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THERE’S
one filly that is worth watching these days. And that‘s
Super Crezee, a runaway Maiden A winner on Monday during
a regular race.
The
three-year-old bay filly is a sister of former
three-year-old sensation Miguelito and who is under the
stable of Com. Gerry Espina. She is being saddled by
Atoy Sordan, the same conditioner of Don Enrico, which
is all primed up to take on his archrivals in the coming
triple Crown Championship Series starting next month.
EXPECT a
much bigger whole day of racing this Sunday when the
Philippine Racing Commission (Philracom) Diamond II
Stakes, which serves as the second leg of the
Imported/Local Challenge Race, flags off at the
Santa Ana
Park.
Eleven
imported and local gallopers are entered officially in
this 1,600-meter race that offers another P500,000 to
the top four placers. The winner receives the top prize
of P300,000, while the runner-up picks up P112,500,
third P62,500 and the fourth P25,000.
The
entries include: Bienvenido Niles Jr.’s Bumble Bee, 56;
Joseph Dyhengco’s Drama Belle, 55; Cesar Avila’s Fierce
Fighter, 53; Gilda Bradd’s Great Emma, 56; Tierra
Sagrada de Maria Farms’ La Tienne, 56; Ed Mailom’s
Manhattan, 56; Bay Coching’s Mercurio, 56; Pierre Niles’
Midnight King, 56; Jake Maderazo’s Mr. Victory, 56;
Hermie Esguerra’s Real Spicy, 57; and Ruben Laureano’s
Sweet Xarax, 55.
This is
a very interesting race because the event features
almost the very best local and imported horses we have
in one major stakes. Drama Belle, Fierce Fighter, Great
Emma, La Tienne, Mercurio, Midnight King and Sweet Xarax
are the imported horses testing the mettle of the local
ones that consist of Bumble Bee, Manhattan, Mr. Victory
and Real Spicy, who is aching to win his fourth major
Philracom-sponsored stakes this year. He has already won
earlier the Garnet II, the Amethyst II and the
Commissioners’ Cup.
But the
whole day of racing this Sunday is expected to sizzle
with the addition of P20,000 to all other regular races
except for the main event and the maiden/allowance races
that shall be held. The additional P20,000 prize to
each races, shall be distributed into P12,000 for first,
P6,000 for second, and P2,000 for third. The bonus races
are cosponsored by the Philracom and the Philippine
Racing Club.
This
early, we heard that various stables are already excited
in joining these bonus races since the added prizes are
good incentives for their horses to win.
THREE
major prep races for the 2008 US Triple Crown were
disputed last weekend. And after the smoke of the battle
has cleared, we have already seen some of those who will
be seeing action in this year’s Kentucky Derby, the
first leg of the series.
Among
those major stakes were the $750,000 Grade-I Santa Anita
Derby at the Santa Anita Park, $750,000 Grade-I Wood
Memorial at the Aqueduct and the $500,000 Grade-II
Illinois Derby on April 5 at Hawthorne Race Course.
Winstar’s Farms’ Colonel John, a three-year-old colt by
Tiznow out of the Turkoman mare Sweet Damsel, is now a
solid contender in the Run For The Roses after that
victory in the Santa Anita Derby, winning jockey Corey
Nakatani’s first in 12 tries. Trained by Irishman Eoin
Harty, a former lead assistant to Bob Baffert, Colonel
John won for the fourth time in six starts with two
seconds and bumped his earnings to $825,300 with the
Santa Anita Derby’s winning share of $450,000.
Meanwhile, last year’s juvenile champion War Pass
suffered his second-consecutive defeat at the hands of
Tale Of Ekati in the final strides of the Wood Memorial.
The three-year-old colt by Tale of the Cat out of
Sunday Silence mare Silence Beauty surprised the crowd
after he made a blistering run at the inner rail to beat
the pacesetting War Pass by a neck at the finish and
boost his earnings to $769,200.
It’s
all-systems go for the Kentucky Derby, according to
trainer Barclay Tagg, for the Edgar Prado-ridden colt.
And probably so with runner-up War Pass, whose trainer
Nick Zito is still contemplating on the future of his
colt. “We’ll take him to Kentucky. We’ll take it one day
at a time. We still have to salute the winner—he ran a
big race. If War Pass has a good month, we’ll see if we
can make it to the
Derby.”
Third-placer Court Vision, ridden by jockey Garrett
Gomez, will also be there in the Derby, as assured by
trainer Bill Mott.
Another
one “punching his ticket” to the May 3 Kentucky Derby is
the unknown pacesetter Recapturetheglory, the
three-year-old colt by Cherokee Run out of the Dehere
mare Cold Awakening ridden by jockey ET Baird, which
captured the Illinois Derby. It was the only victory in
the five starts by the Kentucky-bred colt trained and
coowned by Louie Roussel III and he pocketed the top
prize of $300,000
IS it
true that Storm Cat, one of the finest living stallions
in the world today, has shown some fertility problems?
This was
disclosed by the Overbrook Farm near Lexington,
Kentucky, where the great sire is residing, after it was
found out that fewer than half of the 31 mares he had
covered are in foal. The decline in percentage is
startling, according to Overbrook Farm, compared with
2007 when he impregnated 70 percent of the 91 mares he
had covered.
The
25-year-old stallion by Storm Bird out of Terlingua, by
Secretariat, had been the leading sire by year-end
progeny, earning twice and he had ranked in the Top 15
sires of the world a total 13 times. “We’ve been dealing
with his fertility, but as long as he’s comfortable
covering mares and we think there’s a chance for
pregnancy, then we’ll continue to breed him,” farm
advisor Ric Waldman was quoted as saying.
Storm
Cat’s influence is still very evident in this year’s
leading sires’ list. Three of Storm Cat’s sons—Giant’s
Causeway, Stormy Atlantic and Tale of the Cat—rank in
the top 10. Overbrook dropped Storm Cat’s fee from
$500,000 to $300,000 this year. |
