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ES
TWENTY SIX was officially proclaimed by the Philippine
Racing Commission (Philracom) as the winningest horse of
2007 and even entered the record books as the horse to
win the biggest prize in a single year in the more than
141 years of local horseracing.
Owned by
businessman-sportsman Nery Sunga and trained by Dave de
la Cruz, the now four-year-old filly earned a whopping
P7,171,036 out of five victories and two runner-up
finishes in nine outings last year.
Her
P3.6-million first prize in the Presidential Gold Cup
last month was the biggest top prize ever given to a
horse since horseracing was introduced in the country in
1867. And with a total of P7.17 million earned this
year, Es Twenty Six is the first horse in history to
come up with such amazing prize haul. With such an
achievement, Es Twenty Six is a shoo-in as the Horse of
the Year of the Philippine horseracing industry.
“I am
really proud of her. Es Twenty Six is really a horse
with a lot of fighting heart. She is not that big but
she fights like a real thoroughbred. I would also like
to thank the whole team for giving her the best training
and preparations every time she went out there against
the Philippines’ best. My trainer Dave de la Cruz is
really superb. Nagpapasalamat din ako sa lahat ng mga
taong sumuporta kay Es Twenty Six. Marami pong
salamat,” said Nery Sunga over the phone when
reached by Tough Turf recently.
In far
second in the overall standing is Indelible Ink, who
amassed a total of P5,668,453 from winning 11 races and
checking in third one in all her 12 outings last year
while comebacking Native Land is in third with a total
of P4,263,573 after registering 15 runs last year, six
of them were victories, five runner-up and two
third-place finishes.
Ibarra,
who could have rewritten the Triple Crown book if he
competed and won the third and final leg of the annual
series for three-year-olds last year, was in fourth with
a total of P3,910,502 after submitting a clean slate of
four victories from the same number of outings. His
handlers decided to have him undergo knife operations
after a test revealed that he had suffered a slight knee
injury. Ibarra won the first two legs of the Triple
Crown Championship Series and was already set to conquer
the third and final leg when he was taken off the
racetrack. He was the hands-down choice then to become
the ninth horse in the history of the local version of
the Triple Crown to sweep the series since 1978—the
others who did the hat trick were Fair & Square in 1981,
Skywalker in 1983, Time Master in 1987, Magic Showtime
in 1988, Sun Dancer in 1989, Strong Material in 1996,
Real Top in 1998 and Silver Story in 2001.
Rounding
out the Top 10 standings are: (5) Legendary, P3,550,504
with 24 outings last year and collected 7 victories, 8
second places, 3 third and 2 fourth; (6) Empire King P
3,397,340 (18 outings, 9–4–1–3); (7) Treasured Ack
P3,357,464 (13 outings, 7–1–0–3); (8) Tellmenolies
P3,173,195 (34 outings 17–5–5–1); (9) Vivere P3,094,081
(19 outings 8–7–1–2); (10) Irene’s Fantasy P2,941,999
(28 outings 10–4–7–3).
I know
many readers would like to see how their favorites fared
last year. So here is the list of the Top 50 for your
reading enjoyment:
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