The Mayor Ramon D. Bagatsing Memorial Cup is bringing an action-packed race card for the 10th year in a row, with over P8 million in total prizes at stake.
The country’s premier horse racing club, the Manila Jockey Club, Inc., will be hosting the 10th edition of the Racing Festival on the weekend of August 25 and 26 at the San Lazaro Leisure Park in Carmona, Cavite, featuring the fastest thoroughbreds in the country today.
This special racing event is held in honor of the former Manila Mayor, Ramon D. Bagatsing Sr. who went beyond the usual call of civic duty and made it possible to realistically help people by making what they needed accessible and free.
Proceeds of the racing event will help fund the KABAKA Foundation Inc., an organization with the primary mission of caring for the sick and helping the poorest of the poor, the needy, and the less privileged of Manila. Founded by Congressman Amado Bagatsing, the Mayor’s son continues the legacy of selfless service to Manilenyos started by his father having helped over 50,000 residents of the capital.
The late mayor’s sons, Manila Congressman Amado S. Bagatsing and former Manila congressman and lawyer Ramon S. Bagatsing Jr., themselves longtime horse owners and breeders, established the event in 2009.
For the past decade the legacy of the Bagatsing Cup and the Mayor Ramon Bagatsing Racing Festival continues to bring in a record number of viewers, participants and sales both on and off the race track. The record breaking sales of P43,281,228.00 was garnered from the 2014 edition of the Bagatsing Racing Festival, this memorial racing event remains the highest grossing racing festival for five years running.
The first headlining race is the Resorts World Manila Challenge of Champions, a high stakes race open to all 4 year old and above local and imported horses.
Among the notable horses running for the Challenge of Champions will be Hitting Spree, who won the prized MJC Founder’s Cup; an undefeated imported entry called My Ticket Home; and Salt and Pepper who is considered to be the best local horse in the country today. Rounding up the list of entries are Eugenie, Mandatum, Scarborough Shoal, and Truly Ponti.
The Mayor Ramon D. Bagatsing Sr. 3 YO Open Classics remains the premier racing event of the weekend, pitting local and imported 3 year olds against one another where two horses from the start list are emerging as favorites.
Wonderland who was the winner of the 2nd Leg of this year’s Triple Crown Series and Pride of Laguna who is considered the best imported 3 year old horse in the country. They will be joined by Dragon Butterfly, Filipino Emperor, Jaqueline, Princess Eowyn and, River Island in the starting gate.
The Resorts World Manila Challenge of Champions and the Mayor Ramon D. Bagatsing Sr. 3 YO Open Classics will give out a total of P2.2 million in cash prizes. P1.2 million & P1 million (distributed) will be awarded respectively.
The cash prizes, along with the traditional gift prizes for the team of the winning horse, will be awarded by major sponsors namely Resorts World Manila, Philippine Racing Commission (PHILRACOM), Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), the Manila Jockey Club, Inc.(MJCI), Solaire Resort & Casino. Racing event partners comprise of the following: City of Dreams, Mr. Eddie Gonzales’s EEG Development Corporation, Extreme TV, F.R. Sevilla, Stradcom, Andok’s Dokito Frito, and for the 1st time ever another Manila Mayor will support and sponsor a race – the Mayor Joseph “ERAP” Estrada Race.