Defending champion Hitting Spree puts her crown on the line in the 2018 Ambassador Eduardo M. Cojuangco Jr. Cup on Sunday at the Saddle & Clubs Leisure Park Racetrack in Naic, Cavite.
The SC Stockfarm-owned Hitting Spree, which led from start to finish in ruling last year’s edition of the Cojuangco Cup, will be ridden again by jockey Kelvin Abobo in the the prestigious 2000-meter race offering a total purse of P2 million and held in honor of the San Miguel Corp. Chairman, a stalwart in the horseracing industry.
Seven other thoroughbreds, led by Hitting Spree’s stablemate Brilliance (jockey JB Hernandez) and last year’s third placer She’s Incredible (jockey OP Cortez) of owner Joseph Dyhengco, will be crowding the reigning titlist for the top purse of P1.2 million in the rich racing weekend put up by the Philippine Racing Commission, the Metropolitan Association of Race Horse Owners and the Philippine Racing Club,
Others standing in their way are Pangalusian Island (jockey JP Guce, owner Wilbert Tan), Sky Dancer (AP Asuncion, Cool Summer Farm), Tin Drum (RG Fernandez, Cool Summer Farm), Truly Ponti (JA Guce, Narciso Morales) and UND Kantar (RO Niu Jr., Melanie Habla).
Brilliance and Tin Drum are the youngest in the field at four years, with the rest veterans at five years old.
A fitting supporting stakes race to the Cojuangco Cup is the 2018 Philracom 3YO Open Challenge Series, featuring the country’s best three-year-old horses.
Entered in the 3YO Open offering a guaranteed total prize of P1.5 million are Brown Sister (Jockey RD Raquel Jr., owner Joy Raymundo), Bingson Tecson’s coupled entries Certain to Win (JP Guce) and Garantisado (MM Gonzales), Dragon Butterfly (OP Cortez, Narciso Morales), Helushka (JB Hernandez, Juanito Tionloc), Pride of Laguna (JD Juco, Emmanuel Santos) and Viva Morena (Dan Camanero, Bienvenido Pierre M. Niles III).
On the other hand, the MARHO (Metropolitan Association of Race Horse Owners) Breeders Classic Championship, on the other hand, is one of the biggest racing events in the Philippine horse racing industry and is a culmination of a three-leg series of high-powered events held simultaneously with the MARHO Invitational Races leading to the big race.
Meanwhile, several prominent stakes races are still coming in the final two months of the racing season, the 3rd Legs of the Juvenile Fillies Stakes Race and Juvenile Colts Stakes Race on Nov. 18, the Grand Sprint Championship on Dec. 2, the Chairman’s Cup, Philtobo Racing Event and the 2nd Leg of the 3YO Open Challenge Series on Dec. 16 and the Juvenile Championship, KDJM Racing Event, and the 3rd leg of the 3YO Open Challenge Series on Dec. 31.