A whopping P3-million total pot is up for grabs when the Philippine Racing Commission stages the second leg of its 2019 Triple Crown series at the Saddle and Clubs Leisure Park in Naic, Cavite on Sunday.
A powerhouse seven-horse field, led by first-leg winner Real Gold will be shooting for the top prize of P1.8 million put up by Philracom.
Last May 26, Real Gold won the initial battle of the country’s best three-year-olds, obliterating the eight-horse 1st-leg field that included undefeated and overwhelming favorite Obra Maestra at the San Lazaro Leisure Park in Carmona, Cavite.
Real Gold, owned by C&H Enterprise, is the odds-on pick to win a second straight Triple Crown race, but stiff challenge will come from Best Regards (jockey CP Henson, owner Peter Aguila), Boss Emong (Dan Camanero, Edward Vincent Diokno), Jayz (JA Guce, SC Stockfarm), Phenomenal (JB Guce, Enrique Javier), Shanghai Noon (OP Cortez, Emmanuel Santos) and Toy For The Big Boy (JB Cordova, Alfredo Santos).
The race will be ran in 1,800 meters, a 200-meter increase from the first leg’s 1,600.
Second-placer of the race pockets P675,000, with the third and fourth placers getting P375,000 and P150,000, respectively. A P100,000 prize is allotted for the breeder of winning horse.
The last horse to win all three legs of the Triple Crown was Sepfourteen of SC Stockfarm in 2017. Prior to Sepfourteen’s Triple Crown achievement two years ago, the last time one horse won it all in one year was in 2014 when Emmanuel Santos’s colt Kid Molave (Into Mischief x Unsaid) scored the rare 3-peat.
In the accompanying second leg of the 2019 Philracom Hopeful Stakes Race, which will also be ran in 1,800 meters, a 10-horse field, bannered by SC Stockfarm’s coupled entries JLO (jockey JA Guce) and Mood Swing (MM Gonzales), will be eyeing the P600,000 top prize, from the total P1-million purse offered.
Joining the Hopeful Stakes fray are Harapin ang Bukas (jockey JB Hernandez, owner Benjamin Abalos Jr.), My Jopay (Pat R Dilema, Moises Villasenor), Serafina (MB Pilapil, Peter Aguila), Skyscraper (RA Base, Leonardo M. Javier Jr.), Suburbia (OP Cortez, Joseph Dyhengco), The Accountant (CP Henson, Luis Aguila), Two Timer (JA Guce, Melaine Habla) and Viscerion (RC Baldonido, James Albert Dichaves).
Runner-up gets P225,000, while third- and fourth-placers receive P125,000 and P50,000, respectively, with winning breeder taking P30,000.
Battling in the 3YO Locally Bred Stakes Race is a heavy 11-horse cast composed of Always Ready (jockey RD Raquel, owner Bingson Tecson), Brandy Drinker (JA Guce, Rancho Santa Rosa), Electrify (JL Lazaro, Joseph Dyhengco), Gepnits (CS Pare Jr., Marney Cheeno Sordan), Humidor (Dan Camanero, Leonardo Javier Jr.), Iikot Lang (EG Guerra, Cipriano Sison Jr.), Kentucky Rain (RO Niu Jr., Robert Ramirez), Mount Dulang Dulang (MA Alvarez, Wilbert Tan), My Shelltex (JB Guce, Antonio Tan Jr.), Silab (AR Villegas, Benjamin Abalos Jr.) and Weather Lang (JB Hernandez, Melaine Habla).
Top prize in the 3YO is P300,000 from the total of P500,000, also put by the Philracom. Second to fourth placers get P112,500, P62,500 and P25,000, respectively, with P15,000 going to the champion breeder.
The three-leg series is patterned after the United States’ Triple Crown, with its three legs comprised of the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes, also with progressively longer distances