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Translation
The Moor from Cumpas
The seventeenth of March
In the city of Aqua Prieta
People came from where you like
They came to the race track
El relámpago (Lightning) and el moro (The Moor)
Two premier horses.
Pedro Fimbres’ The Moor
Was from the town of Cumpas
Very handsome and very fast
El relámpago was a chestnut
He was a horse much esteemed
By his friend Rafael Romero.
When they rode, The Moor
Looked very handsome
And they began to lay their bets
All the people said
That that horse especially
Was going to win.
Checks, bills and pesos
Were put down on the Cumpas
Sunday in the morning
In the afternoon the bets
Passed a hundred thousand pesos
In this Cavana Cup.
Franki and Jesús Valenzuela
Put down fifteen thousand pesos
On Romero’s chestnut
Cuyo Morales said that
It happens to me that with The Moor
They will win all the money for us
Triny Ramírez was walking
Also Chendo Valenzuela
Now riding the horses
Two foot runners
Two searchers after victory
The two were good cocks of the walk.
Finally came the start
The Moor came out ahead
With the intention to win
Ramírez urged on the chestnut
And arrived at the mid point
He left The Moor trailing
Leonardo Yáñez, “el nano”
Composer of this corrido
Begs everyone’s pardon
Here ends all doubt
The chestnut won at Agua Prieta
And The Moor from Cumpas lost.
una de dos piedras✕
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About translator
This song is the story of a match race between two famous horses at the race track in Agua Prieta, which took place on the 17th of March, 1957. The horses were el relámpago (Lightning), a chestnut, and the favorite, the pure black el moro de Cumpas (the Moor from Cumpas). This was such a famous race and so much money changed hands on it that a movie was made about it, with the same title. In the movie you can watch Gilberto Valenzuela singing the song. It recounts who owned the horses, who rode them and who put down especially large bets. The total betting passed the hundred thousand peso mark in the afternoon. That would have been about $8,000 in 1957 U.S. dollars, or about $64,000 in today’s dollars. And then the song describes, briefly, the race itself and its surprising result.