THE recent Marho Breeders’ Cup proved to be a success and poses another big challenge to its organization and to the whole Philippine horse racing industry itself.
Seven major championship races that featured the very best in the various divisions were seen by the local horse racing world. The champions really proved their worth and they were rewarded richly by the same organization which started the local version of the US Breeders’ Cup in the Philippines.
The 11th edition of the local Breeders’ Cup was considered the richest in its history. Whether the prize monies given to the winners would be exceeded next year is a big challenge to the officers and men of the organizing Metropolitan Association of Race-Horse Owners or MARHO.
The Classic proved to be the venue for the superiority of the mare named Euro Bucks, owned by Hermie Esguerra. Ridden by the regular rider Jesse Guce, the 4-year-old galloper by Account of Grace out of Leveret proved to be the superior one among the seven protagonists who vied for the whopping P1.2-million top prize.
Coming off a big victory in the Sampaguita Stakes a week earlier, Euro Bucks was very overpowering in fashioning out a three-length win over stablemate Eye Candy to make it a 1-2 finish for owner Hermie Esguerra.
The win also established Euro Bucks as one of the major contenders for the coming Presidential Gold Cup, the blue-ribbon event of the local racing calendar. A three-week rest is more than enough for Euro Bucks to make it on the December 17 Gold Cup.
There, she will be challenging her much-touted stablemate and the most dominating horse last year, Real Spicy, for the biggest top prize of the year. It would be a great race to see and should not be missed by the local racing aficionados.
The loss of the top favorite Empire King in that Classic event simply showed that he is already on a downhill. The connection of Empire King is now contemplating on retiring the horse next year and prepare for stud duties.
Empire King is still a force to reckon with in several major stakes races available for the whole month of December. Yes, but retiring him for stud duties next year is one good thing his connection would be doing to the horse. He had already proven his mettle and good enough for him to retire for good.
Other finishers in the Classic were Native Land, Don Paolo, Wind Runner and Manila Magic, in that order.
Meanwhile, the other championships saw Ever Mine Now winning the Philracom All-Imported Championship, Tiger Song bagging the Sprint crown, Es Twenty Six taking the Juvenile Fillies’ championship via a disqualification of the earlier winner Sexy Eyes, the comebacking Juggernaut topping the Filly Mile, Batong Silyar fashioning out a wire-to-wire victory in the Colt Mile, and EJ’s Magic winning the Juvenile Colts.
