A CRACK seven-horse field will fight it out for the title and the prizes at stake as the Philippine Racing Commission (Philracom) presents the 1st leg of the 3YO Local Fillies and Colts Stakes Race on Sunday at the San Lazaro Leisure Park in Carmona, Cavite.
Aiming for bragging rights as the best three-year-old local in the country today are Aphrodisiac of multi-titled owner Hermie Esguerra; Misha of Leonardo M. Javier Jr.; Probinsyano of Napoleon M. Magno; Smell My Tail of Antonio V. Tan Jr.; coupled entry Sotogrande and The Barrister of Dennis C. Tan; and Yosemite of Stony Road Horse Farm Inc.
“These are among the best three-year-old horses around and are slowly carving a name for themselves in the business. I’m sure our racing aficionados will be in for another good racing treat,” said Philracom Chairman Andrew A. Sanchez.
Many eyes will be trained on Aphrodisiac, sired by Quaker Ridge out of Bourbon St. Blues, and Misha, with Zap and Syrinx as parents, as they are the only fillies in the field and the lightest too at 52 kilograms, with all the colts weighing 54 kilograms.
The rest of the field are just as impressive as their bloodlines.
Probinsyano has Fantasticat and Destiny’s Gold as parents, while Smell My Tail Male came from Prize Cat and Constatic. Sotogrande was sired by Cat Brulay out of Baranawa; while The Barrister was also fathered by Cat Brulay with K Mister Vee as its mother. On the other hand, Yosemite boasts of Borobudur and Tereshkove as its parents.
The race will be run over the short distance of 1,400 meters.
The Philracom is slowly reaping the benefits of its innovations and membership in the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities as it arrested the decline of horse-racing revenues for the past three years.
“Increasing our prizes and implementing a new rating-based handicapping system as a result of our recent membership with IFHA, together with our marketing campaign have contributed to the steady increase in racing revenues,” added Sanchez, whose commission adopted IFHA’s mission to promote good regulation and best practices on international matters pertaining to the sport.
Horse-racing revenues amounting to P7.3 billion in 2017 has netted the government P1.2 billion in taxes, an increase of P88 million or 7.56 percent from the previous year.
The Philracom attributes this to its innovations and membership in the IFHA, whose mission is to promote good regulation and best practices, such as the rating-based handicapping system.
“The Philracom is very proud of this accomplishment as the commission not only arrested the dwindling horse-racing sales for the past three years, it also bettered last year’s revenues,” said Sanchez.