DON ENRICO, touted as one of the heavy favorites in the coming Triple Crown Championship Series, added another major victory in his career when he topped the Diamond Stakes I on Sunday at the San Lazaro Leisure Park.

The three-year-old colt by Wind Blown out of Kayumanggi simply flexed enough muscles in winning the event sponsored by the Philippine Racing Commission and extended his winning skein to 10 victories in 12 outings. He now has six stakes title and that win on Sunday was worth another P300,000 for owner Lorraine Wi Uy.

Tony Tan’s Shining Fame checked in second for P112,500, while Batangas City Mayor Eddie Dimacuha’s Love Story and Euromax finished third and fourth for P62,500 and P25,000, respectively.

IT’S now official!

Magic Millions managing director David Chester is coming to town next month to personally promote the Magic Million June National Sale in Gold Coast, the biggest breeding stock sale in the northern hemisphere.

“The sale is again shaping up to be a massive thoroughbred event,” Chester said. “Buyers from around the world have already booked in for the sale, which will run from May 26 until June 16.”

This year’s sale, covering three major sections such as for yearlings, weanlings, and broodmares, is expected to top last year’s success as  weanlings (four month olds) by all of Australia’s and the world’s most exciting and proven sires are represented—Anabaa, Cape Cross, Commands, Danehill Dancer, Danzero, Dehere, Domesday, Elusive Quality, Elvstroem, Encosta de Lago, Exceed and Excel, Fastnet Rock, Flying Spur, Fusaichi Pegasus, General Nediym,

Hussonet, Lonhro, More Than Ready, Redoute’s Choice, Red Ransom, Rock of Gibraltar, Royal Academy, Snitzel, Starcraft, Stratum, Tale of the Cat and Zabeel, among others.

Sires represented by yearlings already entered include Al Maher, Canny Lad, Cape Cross, Catbird, Charge Forward, Danehill Dancer, Dehere, Elvstroem, Encosta de Lago, Exceed and Excel, Fastnet Rock, General Nediym, Hussonet, Johannesburg, Lion Heart, Lonhro, More Than Ready, Mossman, Quest for Fame, Rock of Gibraltar, Rubiton, Savabeel, Secret Savings, Show a Heart, Spinning World, Street Cry, Tale of the Cat, Testa Rossa, Tiger Hill, Zabeel and Zeditave.

Early highlight mares include stakes winners Buckle My Shoe, Mica’s Pride, Segments, She Will Be Loved and Starry Way. There is also a report that one of the world’s great race mares—the mighty Divine Madonna—will go under the hammer. The daughter of Hurricane Sky, a four-time Group-I winner, was retired last week after suffering a muscle injury that cut shut her last racetrack preparation. Purchased as a yearling from the Adelaide Yearling Sale by Mark Kavanagh, Divine Madonna established herself as one of the great Australian mares of the modern era—earning over $2 million from just 26 starts.

The mare will be offered at the auction by one of Australia’s most historic and successful thoroughbred outfit Widden Stud. Widden’s Antony Thompson said he was delighted to be entrusted with the valuable broodmare prospect.

Chester was also delighted to learn that the star mare would be gracing the Gold Coast sale ring in June. “She’s the mare of the year. We’re honored to be able to get her back to sell to the public as a broodmare after originally selling her as a yearling in Adelaide. There would be no better mare being offered at auction anywhere in the world this year than Divine Madonna. She’s a four-time Group-I winner and she possessed the most paralyzing finishing burst I’ve probably ever seen in a racehorse. Her sale will be one of the most-anticipated thoroughbred auction events ever,” he said.

Divine Madonna is one of two Group winners from the top producing Pergo mare My Madonna. A three-time winner in her own right, My Madonna is also the dam of the Group-III Standish Handicap winner Blessum—a seven-time winner of over $450,000. Maduro, another of Divine Madonna’s half-brothers, notched up yet another city win in Adelaide recently. He’s now won 11 races and earned a less than a quarter of a million dollars.

BY the way, the successful Conrad Jupiters Magic Millions Yearling Sale concluded late last week with various records having been broken also at the Gold Coast.

We received reports that Filipino buyers—such as Manny Santos, commissioner Jun Sevilla, commissioner Ramon Balatbat, Elias Chua and lawyer Narciso Morales among them—gobbled up a total of 23 yearlings in the said sales.

Among those bought were: A$25,000 bay filly by King Cugat out of Parhelion; A$20,000 bay filly by Lucky owners out of Love To Party; A$13,000 Testa Rossa bay filly out of Curtlee; A$10,000 brown filly by Country Reel out of Jet Bound; A$10,000 Spinning World filly out of Crystal Illusion; A$11,000 bay filly by Galileo out of My Eagle; and A$10,000 chesnut filly by Tsumai out of Mooralana. An Australian dollar is equivalent to P38 these days.

David Chester said buyers in the last four days of the yearling sales were thrilled with the value on offer. “We keep telling people to check out the yearlings that go under the hammer over the latter stages of our sales.”

Chester said international buyers—particularly from the Philippines—were extremely active during the session. “The buyers at this part of the sale will be back next year—they wouldn’t be able to get this kind of value anywhere else in the world.”

Also high up among the buyers during the last few days of the sale was American pin-hooking king John Brocklebank. The Utah-based horseman, regarded as one of the world’s greatest pin-hookers, is in the process of assembling a world-class draft of prospects for October’s Magic Millions Horses in Training Sale on the Gold Coast.

On Day Five, Brocklebank purchased four yearlings—adding to his purchases last week which almost topped A$1 million. “This is my first time in Australia and I’ve been amazed with how wonderful everything thing is. The people here are incredible and the horses are first class. I’m hoping to be able to get a few more yearlings tomorrow and then put together an outstanding draft of two-year-olds for the ready-to-run sales here at the Gold Coast.”

Brocklebank has been pin-hooking in the United States for about seven years and has an outstanding record of producing future star racetrack performers there.

Harbour-RP settles for No. 2

JAKARTA—At one point, the Harbour Centre-Philippine team faced the specter of finishing the Southeast Asian Basketball Association Champions Cup below its expectations.

Complete Protectors of Hapee mix it up with skidding Whoppers

HAPEE Toothpaste wants to solidify its hold of the second spot as it collides with the reeling Burger King in the main game of the 2008 Philippine Basketball League Lipovitan Amino Sports Cup Tuesday at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

THE Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) turns a new leaf Wednesday, and in celebration of its 33rd anniversary, the league is raffling off 33 special prizes during Wednesday’s scheduled double-header at the Araneta Coliseum.

JUAN MANUEL MARQUEZ may have finally induced Manny Pacquiao into considering a rematch.

Bacolod City—Twelve schools, led by defending women’s champion University of the Visayas (UV), will slug it out for the remaining slots to the 2008 Nestea Beach Volley National Finals as the third and final leg of the nationwide qualifying tournaments unfurls Tuesday at the University of St. La Salle.

THERE’S no “I” on the team and sure enough, newly installed Philippine nonplaying team captain Manny Tecson is instilling that concept further in the Philippines’ Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group I relegation tie against Uzbekistan.

LINGAYEN—Pangasinan Gov. Amado Espino Jr. and Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Avelino Razon Jr. will make the ceremonial shots to open the Philippine Military Academy Masigasig Class ’72 Governor’s Cup Shootfest from May 2 to 4 at the PNP Firing Range here.

DON ENRICO, touted as one of the heavy favorites in the coming Triple Crown Championship Series, added another major victory in his career when he topped the Diamond Stakes I on Sunday at the San Lazaro Leisure Park.