CANOVANAS, Puerto Rico - Panama's triple crown-winning star, Spago, staked his claim as the best 3-year-old thoroughbred colt in the Caribbean as he defeated 13 rivals from a total of seven area nations to win Sunday's Clasico del Caribe at El Comandante Race Track.

The victory was the second in a row for the nation of Panama, its third in four years and fifth in the last seven runnings of the Clasico. Panama extended its series lead with 12 victories followed by Mexico (10), Venezuela (8), Puerto Rico (6) and Colombia (1).

Winning jockey Cornelius Velasquez, who won the race for the second straight year, became the first to ever win three of the races in the series. Velasquez also won on Cafajeste last year and on Leonardo in 1992.

Spago, a son of 1985 Breeders' Cup Classic winner Proud Truth, is owned by Celestino Carbonel's Stud La Marea in Panama. The trainer, Moises Henriquez, is now a perfect 5-for-5 with Spago since taking over as the horse's conditioner. Spago is the sixth Triple Crown winner in history to also win the Clasico del Caribe and is the fifth Clasico winner bred by Fernando Eleta of Harass Cerro Punta Stud in Panama.

The winner was part of the mutual field that went off as the fourth choice in the race at 7/2. He paid $9.70 and $4.10. There is no show betting in Puerto Rico.

The winning time for the 1 1/8 miles (1,800 meters) was 1:52.47.

A length and a half behind the winner was the filly Casty, second choice at 5/2, running for Mexico that made its return to the Clasico after an absence of eight years. The surprising third place finisher was 70/1 early pace setter Oliver D, representing the Dominican Republic. That was the best finish ever from any Dominican starter in the Clasico. The exacta pay-off was $44.50 with a $1,255.10 trifecta.

United State riding stars Pat Day and Jose Santos finished 8th and 13th respectively. Day rode Pentelicus Dance from Ecuador while Santos represented Colombia on Memorial Day.

The Sunday co-feature was the inaugural running of the $50,000 Citgo Cup Invitational for 3-year-olds at a mile and three sixteenths. Venezuela's Happy Trails won under jockey Santiago Gonzalez. The 4-year-old by Peaks and Valleys is also a multiple stakes winner in the U.S. including the Jersey Derby and the Hill Prince. Happy Trails races for the Dos Reyes I group and is trained by Giuseppe Iadisernia.

Rivera takes Jockey Challenge
On Saturday, El Commandante hosted the second annual Angel Cordero Jr. Jockey Challenge, which spanned the day's first four races and featured U.S. Hall of Fame jockey Pat Day and another American star, Jose Santos. Neither Day nor Santos had any luck with their draw of mounts and only had rides in three of the four races. Day finished 7th out of eight riders with 7 points while Santos managed only 1 point with a 5th-place finish to end up last in the challenge.

Taking the title was the leading jockey from Panama, Angel Rivera, with 23 points earned with 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th place finishes. Javier Matias of Mexico was second with 20 points earned followed by Santiago Gonzalez from Venezuela with 16 points. Puerto Rican jockeys Jose C. Ferrer, Ramon Vasquez and Juan C. Diaz took the next three places.

ESPN2's Wire-to-Wire will present special coverage of the weekend at 2 p.m. ET on Tuesday.