The Brazilian team of stallion EF Eurus Ta Fame and jockey Sidnea Pereira Da Silva Jr made major waves during some of their first runs on American soil and earned the inaugural Young Guns League Derby aggregate win, adding $44,246 to the decorated horse’s lifetime earnings in Guthrie, Oklahoma.
EF Eurus Ta Fame, a son of Dash Ta Fame out of EF Brahma Brown by EF Shady Brown born went 16.925 seconds on the Lazy E’s standard barrel racing pattern during Round 1 on Sunday, Oct. 6 to earn the $12,664 total win. Pereira’s two-handed style and his ability to reach down and set up each barrel the stallion turned on a dime stunned the crowd and social media.
The Young Guns League was created by the founders of the Pink and Ruby Buckle races and aimed at giving stallions with progeny under the age of 8 a chance to run against one another. EF Eurus Ta Fame is a program stallion whose progeny will be eligible to compete in the incentive, but it also awards the stallions enrolled the opportunity to compete if they meet eligibility. See Young Guns League rules.
Bred by Elimio Benedito Fanton, thus the EF in his name, EF Eurus Ta Fame’s roots run as deep as Bobby Civita’s, who’s a third-generation breeder of some of the top speed and working horses in Brazil.
“Eurus has a very interesting story,” Civita said. “He was bred as an embryo at my family’s place, then got sold to Northern Brazil, where not much barrel racing was going on. From a young age, he showed something very different, and not like any Dash Ta Fame’s we’ve had.”
Eurus’ DTF side is crossed on EF Brahma Brown, a daughter of the Brazilian stallion EF Shady Brown. Like many storylines from the 2024 Pink Buckle and Young Guns League week, the stallion’s mare power is believed to be a huge component in his athletic style.
“Basically, they all started back with Shady Leo about 30 or 40 years ago,” Civita said. “And he bred three great stallions: Shady King Times, El Shady Zorrero and Shady Brown. It’s a really old bloodline that they don’t have up here (in the United States) but you could relate it to maybe your Frenchmans Guy or Fire Water Flit. It’s our working line that’s worked on the barrels, like your cow bred horses maybe…so we mix it with speed horses and it really works. It’s very unique and something we’ve seen buyers from the States wanting to buy from Brazil.”
This was something his jockey, decorated athlete and trainer Sidnei Pereira Da Silva Jr’s felt from the beginning. He spoke to the gelding’s athleticism and feel from the beginning of his time with Pereira. And it’s something that’s transferred through to the record books. Together, the team has recorded an estimated 70 runs under 17.0 seconds on a standard pattern—with their first run together resulting in a 16.4. His fastest time clocked has been a 16.2 on a course the same size as the Lazy E’s pattern, and the duo has become a fan favorite in Brazil. Americans were shocked to see Pereira’s athleticism in the first round of competition, when he touched every barrel with his hands and came out as the champ.
Civita also acted as translator for Pereira, who speaks Portuguese.
“I judged it a little wrong and sat early,” Pereira said. “But I was happy for the win. The ground was very good here. It’s important for us to be safe because the horses are used to safe ground in Brazil and turn a little bit more arched (than most American trained horses). They skid a little bit more. But he’s such an intelligent horse because he learned so quickly on this different soil and picked up what he had to do.”
For full Young Guns League and Pink Buckle Week results, click here.