THE richest single racing event in the history of horseracing in the country—the Grand Presidential Derby—set on December 23 at the San Lazaro Leisure Park (SLLP) had already attracted 13 nominated entries.

A whopping P6-million total prize will be at stake with the top four placers receiving record prizes. The winner will be receiving the top prize of P3.6 million, the biggest since horseracing started in the country in 1867. The runner-up gets P1.35 million, while the third and fourth placers take home P700,000 and P300,000, respectively. The breeder of the winning horse also receives a bonus of P180,000.

The 13 nominated gallopers are Defiant, EJ’s Magic, Enjoy Me, Es Twenty Six, Golden Sutter, Henry D’Eight, Ididtmyway, Legendary, Macedonian, Pearl Buck, Pound for Pound, Storm Signal and Treasured Ack.

This event easily clobbered the prize money that was staked in the P4-million Philippine Racing Commission (Philracom)-sponsored Ambassador Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. Cup that was disputed on November 25 at the SLLP. This also left the country’s blue-ribbon event—the Presidential Gold Cup which will be held this Sunday—down in the ladder of the richest single racing events. The Gold Cup, which attracted seven tough and tested runners, has a total of P2.425 million at stake and was relegated to third among the biggest and richest single racing spectacle in the country today.

With the kind of lineup to be seen on December 23 in that major racing event, racing aficionados will certainly have a hard time picking up the winner. Those horses had already created a legion of racing fans with the way they titillate their backers, while running and winning in various major stakes races this year. Only one horse that will surely be missed here is Ibarra, the two-leg winner of the Triple Crown Championship Series, who is still recovering from a foot injury he sustained just before the third and final leg of that series for three-year-olds. But he will be represented there by his stablemate and upcoming Pearl Buck who is expected to be battling the favorites Es Twenty Six and Treasured Ack, among others.

This is good for local horseracing because big prize money in various stakes races certainly attract local horseowners and prospective investors to buy more horses and compete in those rich stakes races. The influx of more imported horses not only populates but also upgrades the breed of the local stocks.

The local horse population is not yet reaching the necessary mark by which we can see different horses on an everyday basis. With the six days of racing every week, racing aficionados are getting tired of seeing horses running almost twice weekly. And with the kind of handicapping system that was criticized by the majority of the industry, we cannot see an increase in sales and attendance in the near future. The authorities, who had already answered the need for more rich and big-money races available for the investors, must attend to some prevailing problems in the industry in order to arrest the decline in sales and attendance in both racetracks.

By the way, the Grand Sprint Championship will also be held this Sunday as cohighlight of a twin-bill at the SLLP.  The Philracom-sponsored event has a total prize of P1 million. The winner will go home P600,000 richer, while the runner-up picks up P225,000, third 125,000 and fourth P50,000. The nominated horses for the 1,000-meter race are: Bumble Bee, Business Class, Million Dollar, Nothing Impossible, Royal Academy and Vivere.

I WOULD like to congratulate all the horsemen behind that successful Philtobo Grand Championship Day on Sunday at the jampacked Sta. Ana Park.

The five major championship races—the Classic, the two Three-Year-Old Championships for Colts and for the Filies, and the two Juvenile Colts and Juvenile Fillies Championships—were such hits together with other cup races during the whole day of racing extravaganza that was organized by the Philippine Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders’ Organization (Phltobo).

Philtobo president Bienvenido Niles Jr. was very happy that day not only for the success of the annual racing affair which is now on its eighth year but also because his longshot horse Paramount surprisingly won the hotly contested Philtobo Grand Championship Classic. “Nagpapasalamat po ako at ang aming samahan sa lahat ng mga tumulong upang maging masaya at successful ang pagdiriwang ng aming pantaunang Philtobo Grand Championship Races,” said Niles, who is also the regional director of AC Nielsen.

The Niles family, with Mrs. Angie and his children Pierre and Stephie, was also overjoyed as they receive the handsome Classic championship trophy during the awarding. Ridden by jockey Val Dilema, six-year-old Paramount (younger sister of the popular but retired Wind Blown) caught up with the tiring Don Paolo in the final stretch and won by a length to bag the top prize of P360,000.

Paolo Mendoza’s Don Paolo, who led by as much as six lengths going for home, hung on for dear life and checked in second worth P150,000. The heavily favored Special Edition finished third for P60,000, while Ocean Deep was fourth for P30,000.

It was Ruben Dimacuha’s Macho Man, ridden by jockey JB Hernandez, who topped the Viva Prime-Philtobo Hot Race 3YO Colts Championship to win the top prize of P300,000, while Afternoon Delight placed second for P125,000 and Superamerica was third for P50,000. In the fillies division, Landed Visa of Hermie Esguerra won by half-length over the pacesetting Minsk City and went home with the top prize of P300,000.

In the two-year-old categories, heavily favored Lee Uy Wi’s Don Enrico bagged the P300,000 top prize in the Philracom-Mitra Cup Juvenile Colts Championship. Unopposed was a far second for P125,000, while Northstorm and He’s The Man were third and fourth for P50,000 and P25,000, respectively. In the distaff side, outstanding favorite Indelible Ink, ridden by jockey Jeff Zarate, won handily over her five other rivals to get the top prize of P300,000. Twin Turbo checked in second for P125,000 while Anonymous and Luna Rossa finished third and fourth for P50,000 and P25,000, respectively.

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THE richest single racing event in the history of horseracing in the country—the Grand Presidential Derby—set on December 23 at the San Lazaro Leisure Park (SLLP) had already attracted 13 nominated entries.