Racing in Chile: a long haul in more ways than one at the stunning Club Hipico

Go racing in South America and you’re in for the long haul. In more ways than one if a recent showpiece occasion at the utterly splendid surroundings of the Club Hipico de Santiago is anything to go by.

The card on Sunday March 10, featuring the 35th edition of the continent’s richest race, the Longines-backed Gran Premio Latinoamericano, starts at 11am with a five furlong handicap – and it finishes no less than 12 hours later with the 26th race on the card, another five furlong handicap, at 11pm. There may be plenty of sprints – only three contests all day exceed a mile – but in every other respect this is a marathon event.

Giving racegoers value for money is a laudable concept, but this feels faintly ridiculous, race after race going by in a blur. With 15- and 16-runner fields the norm, there are no fewer than 367 horses declared, enough to keep them going for a couple of months at Southwell.