Practical Joke’s Soqui Secure First Grade I Win

Soqui (2c Practical Joke x Wiki, by Scat Daddy) became the newest Grade I winner for Practical Joke on Saturday when he won the Group I Clasico Tanteo de Potrillos in Chile.

Racing over 7 ½ furlongs on a wet track, Soqui was one of the back markers of the race as the field raced away from the gate and had nearly 10 lengths to make up on the leader going into the turn. As they hit the stretch, he started doing exactly that and found himself with just a few horses in front of him in the final sixteenth.

It was close between the top four at the line with Soqui coming up the outside to beat Practical Joke’s Morricone by three quarters of a length with Practical Joke’s Ghost Joke giving him three of the top four finishers.

Soqui is trained by Jose Alverez for Don Simon and is now the winner of three of his seven starts with three other top three finishes.

Hailing from the Haras Paso Nevado breeding program, he is out of a three-quarter sister to Chilean champion Wapi and a half-sister to champions We Can Seek and Weekend Trip. Coolpmore sires have had plenty of success with this family with Lookin At Lucky siring two of the stakes performers under Soqui’s second dam as well.

Soqui is the eighth worldwide Grade I winner for Practical Joke and one of 14 Grade I performers by the stallion. Among that group are Belmont Park Grade I winning juvenile Chocolate Gelato and Grade I Santa Anita Derby winner Practical Move.