Brazil: Quari Bravo confirms his superstar status; Around the World.

QUARI BRAVO, winner of the Sao Paulo triple crown at the end of last year, confirmed his position as the best horse in the country by defeating 19 opponents in the pounds 54,645 GP Brasil, over one and a half miles at La Gavea, Rio de Janeiro, on Sunday.

It was his eighth win from 11 outings and his sixth at Group 1 level.

The four-year-old, trained near Sao Paolo by Ermelino Sampaio and ridden by Luis Duarte, scored by one and three-quarter lengths from Gablitz, with Prince Ali three-quarters of a length back in third.

This was the fourth consecutive year that the locals had been forced to settle for place-money. Much Better was the last Rio-trained winner, in 1994. He was followed by El Sembrador from Argentina and Quinze Quilates and Jimwaki, both trained in Sao Paulo.

Quari Bravo started at 2-1 on, and there were odds-on favourites in the three other Group 1 contests last weekend. However, only Vyatka, who took the GP OSAF for fillies and mares over 10 furlongs, proved successful. It was her fourth win in her last five races and her second Group 1.

Saturday's other big race was the GP Major Suckow, in which the second favourite, Smuggler, avenged the half-length defeat handed to him by Quartier Noir in a Group 2 over this same five furlongs on July 11. He beat that horse by a nose this time. Both colts are by Bright Again, a son of the first Breeders' Cup Classic winner, Wild Again.