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Cañonero II (April 24, 1968 – November 11, 1981) was aVenezuelan championThoroughbredrace horse that may be best remembered for winning the first two legs of the 1971U.S. Triple Crown, theKentucky Derby and thePreakness Stakes.

Bred by Edward B. Benjamin inGreensboro, North Carolina, the bay colt was born with a noticeably crooked foreleg, so was considered to have no future in racing. He was sold as a yearling for $1,200 at theKeeneland Sales to Venezuelan breeders Ramon Echegaray and Luis Navas. Purchased by Edgar Caibett, the horse was shipped to his owner's nativeVenezuela, where he earned an undistinguished record racing as a two-year-old inLa Rinconada Hippodrome.

Because of his breeding, Cañonero II qualified for theKentucky Derby, the most prestigious event in United States Thoroughbred horse racing. Trained by Juan Arias and ridden byjockeyGustavo Avila, in the spring of 1971, the horse was shipped toLouisville, Kentucky, for the big race. There, Cañonero II was dismissed as a horse that did not belong in such elite company and was listed at the bottom of the pack of the betting odds as part of a six-horse pool.

In the Derby's 20-horse field, Cañonero II shocked everyone by coming from 18th place to storm past the competition, easily winning the race by 33⁄4 lengths. Arguably the most astonishing upset in the race's history was deemed a fluke by many of horse racing's experts, who predicted Cañonero II would never win another race. However, in thePreakness Stakes, the second of theTriple Crown races, Cañonero II won again.

The third leg of the Triple Crown, theBelmont Stakes held nearNew York City, was run before the largest crowd in its history. The stands were filled with members of the city's largeLatino community, there to cheer on their new hero. However, due to a foot infection that had bothered the horse for several days, Cañonero II, after taking the race lead, struggled across the finish line in fourth place. Despite this loss, he was named the winner of the 1971Eclipse Award for Outstanding Three-Year-Old Male Horse.

Sold toRobert J. Kleberg III for $1,000,000,^[1] Cañonero II was nursed back to health byHall of Fame trainerBuddy Hirsch. The following year in theStymie Handicap at Belmont Park, he set a track record while defeating the great three-year-old championRiva Ridge.

Retired to stud at the end of 1972, Cañonero II died in 1981.

• Haskin, Steve (March 26, 2011)."Viva Canonero!".The Blood-Horse.
• Profile of Canonero II (Spanish language)
• Canonero's pedigree
• Statistics for Canonero II's Kentucky DerbyArchived 2007-05-21 at theWayback Machine
• "The Year of Canonero".Time. June 14, 1971.
• Canonero II's offspring at the Triple Crown database by Kathleen Irwin and Joy Reeves

• 1968 racehorse births
• 1981 racehorse deaths
• Racehorses bred in Kentucky
• Racehorses trained in the United States
• Racehorses trained in Venezuela
• Kentucky Derby winners
• Preakness Stakes winners
• Eclipse Award winners
• Sport in Venezuela
• Thoroughbred family 4-n

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