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IT’S
exactly nine days before the third and final leg of the
Triple Crown Championship flags off on August 3 at the
Santa Ana Park.
Although there will no longer be a Triple Crown champ
this year, the outcome of next Sunday’s big event is
still being keenly awaited. And this is because of the
ongoing grudge fight between the two major
contenders—Philippine Racing Commission (Philracom)
commissioner Gerry Espina and Lorraine Uy Wi’s Don
Enrico, and Hermie Esguerra’s Indelible Ink.
Indelible Ink was the winner of the first leg at the San
Lazaro Leisure Park, while Don Enrico topped the second
leg at the Santa Ana Park. Who the winner will be in the
third and final leg is every racing aficionado’s guess
as of the moment.
They
are two of the six official entries in the 2,050-meter
race where the sponsoring Philracom is committing
another P3 million guaranteed prize for the top four
finishers. The four others are Bienvenido Niles’s
Champion of Show, Raymund Puyat’s Hieroglyphics, Tony
Tan’s Shining Fam and Herma Farms & Stud’s Tabako.
The
champion will again receive the whopping top prize of
P1.8 million, while the runner-up picks up P675,000,
third P375,000 and fourth P150,000. The breeder of the
winning horse will be rewarded with a P100,000 bonus.
Commissioner Espina, whom I interviewed during a break
in last Wednesday’s Philracom board meeting, confirmed
that jockey John Alvin Guce, Don Enrico’s regular rider
who booted him to victory in the second leg, will again
partner with their champion horse in the third and final
leg. “He’s [Don Enrico] so good lately. We were so
impressed with the way he performed in his last prep
race late last week. He hasn’t changed a lot since he
won the second leg and we hope to bring him to tip-top
condition on the big day on August 3,” he said.
Super
Crezee, his other budding three-year-old, will no longer
be around this time with Don Enrico. “She came out with
a slight pain in the leg right after that grueling
second leg, so we decided to keep her out of the races
for the meantime. But she will be back,” commissioner
Espina assured.
On
the other hand, many were surprised to see Indelible Ink
barely winning a prep race also last week with a
different rider onboard, jockey JB Hernandez. Is jockey
Jeffril Zarate being replaced by a new rider come August
3? This is another guessing game that went around the
four corners of the local racing industry when jockey
Hernandez surprisingly paraded onboard Indelible Ink,
which squeezed enough juice to win the said regular
race.
With
the way these two horses have prepped last week, many
are now thinking twice on where to put their hard-earned
pesos come the third and final leg of the event.
Meanwhile, seven colts and fillies are entered in the
P1-million Hopeful Stakes and they are Hermie Esguerra’s
Anonymous, Nap Chua’s Arithmetic, commissioner Dante
Arevalo’s Bohemian Dave, Enrique Castillo’s Luck To Win,
Mayor Moises Villasenor’s Luna Rossa, Reginald Vergara’s
Sauvignon and Robert Yutadco’s Speed Almighty. This
1,800-meter race offers a top prize of P600,000, while
the runner-up picks up P225,000, third P125,000 and
fourth P50,000.
By
the way, the respective jockeys will be declared on the
day of the raffle for postposition within this week.
THE
world is also keenly awaiting the entry of a yearling
colt that was foaled by three-time Melbourne Cup
champion and two-time Australian Horse of the Year
Makybe Diva to the sales ring of William Inglis next
year.
The
big, strong colt by Galileo, Europe’s current leading
sire, will be the highly anticipated superstars of the
2009 Australian Easter Yearling Sale. The colt is one of
the many outstanding yearlings to be sold under the
hammer by Makybe Bloodstock manager Dean Harvey,
according to reports. “He was quite an early foal and
he’s a big, strong colt. He’s quite an impressive
individual when you get up close to him and he has a
lovely temperament, just like his mum,” Harvey was
quoted.
I
JUST caught the replay of four interesting major races
in the US, which have major bearings on the respective
winners’ Breeders’ Cup aspirations this October.
The
Godolphin Racing Stable made a 1-2 finish in the
$300,000 Coaching Club American Oaks (Grade 1) at the
Belmont Park, but it was winner Music Note that made a
big mark with her 12-length victory. The daughter of AP
Indy out of a Sadler’s Wells mare Note Musicale was
overwhelming in her fourth-straight victory with jockey
Javier Castellano onboard. Stablemate Little Belle was
second with jockey Rajiv Maragh aboard.
Meanwhile, Well Armed, the five-year-old gelded son by
Tiznow out of the Notebook mare Well Dressed, won the
San Diego Handicap in record time at the revamped
Polytrack surface of del Mar. He is now being pointed to
the $1-million Pacific Classic before heading to the
Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile whose slot he earned after
winning the event.
The
final time for the one-and-1/16-mile distance was
1:41.57, the fastest San Diego Handicap time since
Skimming won the first of his back-to-back victories in
2000. Well Armed earned his third win in five US starts
since transferring here from Dubai last fall. In the
Dubai World Cup where he finished eighth, Well Armed set
the pace before he was overtaken with a quarter-mile to
run by eventual winner Curlin. He also won the San
Antonio Handicap (Grade 2) at Santa Anita by a head over
the since-retired Heatseeker and recorded five victories
in 17 starts to boost his earnings to $1,030,803.
I
love to see that very close victory of Gio Ponti (a colt
by Tale of the Cat out of the Alydar mare Chipeta
Springs), which was ridden by jockey Garrett Gomez over
Court Vision in the Virginia Derby.
It
was the fourth-straight win of Gio Ponti after being
beaten in the 2007 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. The
Virginia Derby win was the second for Gomez and the
first for trainer Clement. Gomez won the 2006 Virginia
Derby with Go Between. He chose Gio Ponti over Grade 2
winner Court Vision, a horse he rode during the Triple
Crown season.
And
last, I had a good time watching the Virginia Oaks when
I Lost My Choo blew home in superb fashion at the
Colonial Downs turf. The three-year-old filly by Western
Expression out of the Tom Rolfe mare Fairy Queen simply
followed the furious pace of Julia Tuttle, which led for
more than 12 lengths going for home. But having the best
late kick, I Lost My Choo got revved up rounding the
final turn, came four-wide into the stretch, made her
presence inside the eighth-pole and finally passed Julia
Tuttle in the final yards to win by one-and-a-half
lengths. |
