TRACK icon Hagdang Bato is one of the many elite horses running in the Metropolitan Association of Race Horse Owners’ landmark 20th MARHO Cup Championships on Nov. 7 and 8 at Santa Ana Park.
The event, dubbed the MARHO-San Miguel Beer Platinum racing festival, features five major stakes races with hefty prizes.
The entries for the 2,000-meter MARHO Platinum-San Miguel Beer Classic for horses 4YO and older are Hagdang Bato, Biseng Bise, Hot and Spicy, Kanlaon, King Bull, Manalig Ka, and Marinx.
Declared for the MARHO Platinum-Santa Ana Park 3YO Colt and Filly Mile are Gentle Strength, Hook Shot, Shintaro’s Speed, Sky Hook, and Super Spicy.
Running in the 1,300-meter MARHO Platinum-Philracom Juvenile Colts are Bite My Dust, Dewey Boulevard, Lucky Toni, Stark, and Underwood.
In the counterpart Juvenile Fillies race over the same distance are Bowties and Charms, Incomparable, Port Angeles, Real Flames, and This Time.
The 1,100-meter MARHO Platinum-Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office Sprint will showcase Barcelona, Cat’s Silver, Ik Hou Van Jou, Nemesis, and Never Cease.
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Longshot Subterranean River won the 3rd leg of the Philippine Racing Commission Juvenile Fillies stakes race at Metroturf racecourse last Sunday (Oct. 25).
Wilbert Tan’s filly raced second to last in the seven-horse field. Under jockey John Paul A. Guce, Subterranean River began moving up in the backstretch, gaining fourth position in the backstretch and second at the hometurn.
She raced on the inside down the stretch against the frontrunner, the favorite Hotdog, to win by half a length.
Subterranean River (Quaker Ridge x Magic Symbol), trained by AC Sagun, posted a time of 1:25.2 (13-22-23-27’) for the 1,400-meter race. Hotdog was second, Most Trusted third and Port Angeles fourth.
The counterpart Philracom Juvenile Colts stakes held the same day was another come-from-behind story.
Underwood, steered by Jesse B. Guce ran off the pace from frontrunner Uncle Ko and its stablemate Finishing Bells, with Spectrum taking the lead at the home turn.
Boxed at the rail behind Spectrum, Guce swung Underwood out and rallied on the outside, winning by five over Spectrum. Finishing Bells was third, Show The Whip fourth.
Underwood (Real Spicy x Kayumanggi), owned by Stony Road Horse Farm and trained by Dave de la Cruz, posted 1:25 (12’-22-23-27’) for 1,400 meters.
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In the PCSO 2YO Maiden race on Saturday (Oct. 31) at San Lazaro Leisure Park are lawyer Narciso Morales’s filly Guantanamera, James Albert Dichaves’s filly Mahayana Budur, Joseph Dyhengco’s filly Yes Kitty, Nathaniel Velasco’s filly Ellie’s Charm, Jun Sevilla’s colt Purging Line, Cool Summer Farm’s filly Striking Colors, Stony Road Horse Farm’s colt Mt. Rainier, and Mayor Sandy Javier’s filly Yong Yong.
Yong Yong won the Oct. 16 trial race and Striking Colors came in second, Yes Kitty third. Railbirds say to look no further that these three horses, although the chances of the others should not be discounted especially in a juvenile race, where anything can happen.
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Races at Santa Ana Park last Oct. 23 were cancelled due to technical difficulties with the broadcast of the live coverage: the video transmission sent from the track at Naic, Cavite could not be picked up by the traffic controller at the Makati office.
Insiders say the issue has now been resolved, the proof being that races at Metroturf last weekend were aired without a hitch. Since perhaps the first week of October, Metroturf has been using the same broadcast provider as Santa Ana Park – Apollo Global.
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