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EXECUTIVE Secretary Eduardo Ermita formally swore in
Atty. Jose Ferdinand Rojas II as chairman of the
Philippine Racing Commission (Philracom) in an
early-morning simple ceremony Thursday in Malacañang.
Chairman Rojas becomes the 11th chief of
the horseracing industry’s regulatory body that was
created under Presidential Decree 420. The first head of
the Philracom was former Ambassador Danding Cojuangco,
and he was followed by former Makati Mayor Nemesio Yabut,
Augusto Benedicto “Tata Ochie” Santos, Nicky Jacinto,
Jose Avelino Jr., Antonio Lagdameo, Dick Katigbak,
Andrew Sanchez, Jimmy Dilag and Gen. Florencio Fianza in
that order.
Upon his designation as acting chairman
early this year, Rojas made necessary adjustments in the
controversial handicapping systems among the
two-year-old and three-year-old horses that brought back
harmony among the major players of the industry. He is
now busy with the creation of a long-term plan that
shall guide the horseracing industry into the future.
ALL is
set for this Sunday’s first leg of the Triple Crown
Championship Series at the San Lazaro Leisure Park.
All eyes are set on the expected heated
rivalry between Don Enrico and Indelible Ink, although
four more contenders are hoping for a major upset in the
P3-million race sponsored by the Philracom.
The winner will be going home with the
biggest paycheck of P1.8 million so far for the year,
while the runner-up picks up P675,000, third P375,000
and fourth P150,000.
The complete lineup together with their
respective jockeys, are Lorraine Uy Wi’s Don Enrico,
Jonathan Hernandez, 54; Raymond Puyat’s Hieroglyphics,
Kelvin Abobo, 54; Herminio Esguerra’s Indelible Ink,
Jeff Zarate, 52, and Queen Elena, Lito Daquis, 52; Tony
Tan’s Shining Fame, Jesse Guce, 54; and Mario Tan’s
Unopposed, John Alvin Guce.
Many were surprised to see jockey JB
Hernandez guiding Don Enrico this Sunday because he
hasn’t ridden yet, so far. Commissioner Gerry Espina
said Hernandez got the ride after a consensus was made
by the connections. “We deemed it proper to give him the
ride after discussing it thoroughly. And JB is very
enthusiastic about it. Since we talked to him about it,
he is always with the horse during its everyday workout,
and we believe he can deliver.”
In the P1-million Hopeful Stakes, the
odds are even among the nine participants vying for the
top prize of P600,000. The entries here are Angel Dugo,
Jem Tinte, 54; Anonymous, Hermie Esguerra, 52;
Arithmetic, Pati Dilema, 52; Bohemian Dave, Jesse Guce,
54; Champion Of Show, Val Dilema, 52; Don Alejandro,
John Cordero, 54; Love Story, Fernando Raquel Jr., 52;
Luna Rossa, Dominador Borbe Jr., 52; and Makisig,
Jonathan Hernandez. The runner-up picks up P225,000
while the third and fourth placers pick up P125,000 and
P50,000, respectively.
THE
whole racing world was taken by surprise when two major
breeding farms—one in the United States and one in
Ireland—announced the retirement of two of the
outstanding sires the world has even seen.
Overbrook Farm near Lexington, Kentucky,
made a shocking announcement early this week about the
“pensioning” of the popular Storm Cat, North America’s
premier sire for several years now, “because of
declining fertility.”
The 25-year-old son of Storm Bird out of
Terlingua (by Secretariat), which was euthanized in
April at the age of 32 while on pension at the same
farm, was reported to have impregnated only three of the
32 mares bred to him this year. His stud fee of $300,000
is still one of the highest this year, although it was
down from the $500,000 for which he stood from 2002 to
2007. That figure was still too high from the $20,000
fee when he started in 1991.
Storm Cat is one success story as he is
represented by 160 stakes winners and the earners of
$112 million. He proved an overwhelming success not only
on the sire ranks, topping the year-end lists in 1999
and 2000, but also at the sales. More than a dozen of
his offsprings that were sold as yearlings had commanded
$1 million or more. North America’s current premier sire
of sires, Storm Cat is represented by his sons that
include Giant’s Causeway, Tale Of The Cat and Stormy
Atlantic, all three of which rank in the top seven this
year by progeny earnings. This year’s top two freshman
sires—Roll Hennessy Roll and Lion Heart—are grandsons of
Storm Cat. Storm Cat’s top runners include such
champions Giant’s Causeway, Storm Flag Flying and Sweet
Catomine, plus such Grade-1 winners as Tabasco Cat, Cat
Thief, Sharp Cat and Bluegrass Cat.
Storm Cat’s retirement came a day after
the 27-year-old Sadler’s Wells was also retired from
stud duties. The son of Northern Dancer out of the Bold
Reason mare Fairy Bridge, whose half-brother Nureyev
also was a champion and major sire, is based at Coolmore
Stud in Ireland.
Sadler’s Wells was the leading sire in
England
and Ireland a record-breaking 14 times, including 13
years in succession (1992 to 2004), all while in
Coolmore where he stood at stud since retiring from
racing in 1985.
Sadler’s Wells, which produced lots of
champions year after year, achieved plenty of fame in
North America. His offspring have won a record six
Breeders’ Cup (Grade-I) events, including the 2003 John
Deere Turf, in which High Chaparral finished in a dead
heat for first. They also won two runnings of the
Arlington Million Stakes (Grade- IT). A son of Sadler’s
Wells, El Prado was the leading sire in 2002 and second
the next two years. Two of his other sons-sires are
Galileo and Montjeu.
He had sired 295 stakes winners, second
to the 347 sired by the deceased Coolmore stallion
Danehill. Sadler’s Wells is closing in on the 200 mark
by number of stakes winners as a broodmare sire. One of
his recent representatives, Henrythenavigator, won the
May 3 Stanjamesuk.com Two Thousand Guineas (Eng-I). Bred
in Kentucky by Robert Sangster’s Swettenham Stud and
Partners, Sadler’s Wells raced for Sangster, winning
such events at 3 in 1984 as the Airlie Coolmore Irish
Two Thousand Guineas (Ire-I), Coral-Eclipse Stakes
(Eng-I) and Phoenix Champion Stakes (Ire-I). In
France,
where he ran second in that year’s Prix du Jockey-Club
(Fr-I), he was a champion miler.
Surprisingly, Storm Cat and Saddler’s
Wells are both out of the major standings among the
leading sires of the world for 2008. The leader was no
less than Smart Strike (by Mr. Prospector), which is the
sire of world champion Curlin. In second is Giant’s
Causeway (by Storm Cat) whose top big-name progeny is
Heatseeker. Rounding out the Top 10 are Tiznow (by
Cee’s Tizzy sire of Well Armed), AP Indy (by Seattle
Slew) sire of Little Belle, Boundary (by Danzig) sire of
Big Brown, Tale of the Cat (by Storm Cat), sire of Tale
Of Ekati, Stormy Atlantic (by Storm Cat) sire of Quite A
Bride, Unusual Heat (by Nureyev) sire of Golden Doc,
Grand Slam (by Gone West) sire of Visionaire and Honour
And Glory (by Relaunch) sire of Honour Devil. |
