Philippine Sports News for Filipino fans around the world

Noted horseowner Hermie Esguerra scored a big triple last Sunday after three of his top juvenile horses ruled all the three major stakes races disputed at the San Lazaro Leisure Park in Carmona, Cavite.

First, it was Condoleeza who upset the top choice in the six-horse field second leg of the 2006 Philracom Juvenile Fillies Championship Series. Then came the overpowering victory by Golden Sutter in the PCSO Special Maiden Race. And finally, his two entries in the second leg of the 2006 Philracom Juvenile Colts Championship Series made a battle-royale down the stretch before Macho Man gave him his third and final trophy for the day.

Esguerra’s horses actually chalked four victories yesterday, but the other one was in a regular race, Don Exequiel, one of his major horses who won the first leg of the Triple Crown Championship Series last May.

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Several major international horse sales are being looked into by local horseowners this September.

Those who have already booked their way to the United States this month are surely interested to go to the annual Keeneland September Yearling Sale in Lexington, Kentucky.

A record number of 5,161 horses will be up for grabs from Sept. 11-25 and is considered the biggest so far at Keeneland. There are 2,704 colts and 2,457 fillies which are offsprings of 300 different sires.

“The September yearling sale is the ultimate Thoroughbred yearling auction,” said Geoffrey Russell, Keeneland’s director of sales. “It offers an unparalleled selection of quality individuals at all levels of the market, allowing buyers to fill their orders at one location. Such strong participation from buyers – both principals and representatives – from every corner of the world makes Keeneland September the global marketplace for yearlings.”

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No doubt about it. He’s one of the finest and talented jockeys in the Philippines today.

But that one-year suspension on jockey Jeffril Tagulao Zarate will surely hurt his very fragile career.

Zarate was slapped a one-year suspension by the Philippine Racing Commission (Philracom) late last month when he was found to have “cheated” on his handicap weight aboard a losing horse in a major stakes race.

Three others were implicated in the said scandal – his two helpers and a groom – and they were also given the same one-year suspension each.

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By the time you’re reading this, Special Edition could have gone up the second winningest horse in terms of winnings among our top horses in the land from January to August this year.

The 3-year-old bay filly by Conquistarose out of the multi-titled stakes campaigner Gold Edition won the Lakambini Stakes last Sunday to officially crown herself as the top 3-year-old filly in the land today. Special Edition, owned and trained by top breeder Val Cayco, topped the annual major stakes for the top 3-year-olds in the land in a scintillating come-from-behind fashion which is sponsored by the Philippine Racing Commission.

That top prize of P600,000 boosted her total earnings this year to more than P2.6-million as of the moment, which could easily surpass the P2.4-million winnings of Don Exequiel. The victory will also make her as one of the top contenders in the Presidential Gold Cup this coming December.

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