SEVEN of the country’s finest thoroughbreds clash in the first leg of the most prestigious racing extravaganza for three-year-old horses—the Philippine Racing Commission (Philracom)-backed Triple Crown series on Sunday at the San Lazaro Leisure Park in Carmona, Cavite.
Leading the cast is Smart Candy, the SC Stockfarm three-year-old filly who won two of the three legs of Philracom’s 3YO Stakes Race series early this year.
Ridden by jockey Kevin Abobo, Smart Candy scored a sweet and emphatic win in the second leg of the 3YO series, ruling the 1,500-meter race eight lengths over her closest pursuer last March, before proving her staying power in the longer 1,600-meter third leg by fending off the spirited late charge of the field to win by a length a month later.
Smart Candy will be trying to duplicate the feat of its SC Stockfarm stablemate Sepfourteen, who swept the three legs of the Triple Crown series last year, a feat that crowned the then 3YO colt the Philippine Sportswriters Association’s 2017 Horse of the Year.
Standing in Smart Candy’s way are its stablemate Box Office, Misha of Leonardo Javier Jr., Talitha Koum of George Raquidan, Victorious Colt of Antonio Zialcita and Herminio Esguerra’s Wonderland and Speedmatic, whose most memorable triumph came in the 3rd leg of the Philracom’s Juvenile Colts/Fillies Stakes Races late last year.
“The first leg of the Triple Crown is such an important race in the series, because its winner is the only one with the chance to go all the way for the rare 3-peat,” said Philracom Chairman Andrew A. Sanchez. “I’m sure it will be a battle royale among the seven horses on Sunday.”
A total of P3 million in prizes will be up for grabs in the race over a distance of 1,600 meters, with P1.8 million going to the champion horse and P675,000 allocated for the runner-up. Third and fourth placers get P375,000 and P150,000, respectively. The breeder’s purse is P100,000.
Also highly anticipated on Sunday is the P1-million 2018 Philracom Hopeful Stakes Race and the 3YO Locally Bred Stakes Race, which offers P500,000 in guaranteed prizes.
Congressional, Disyembreasais, Fast Strider, Goldsmith, Hamlet, Jacqueline, Lion’s Gate, Perlas ng Silangan, Princess Eowyn, Royal Signal, Sheer, Sumilon Island and Tapster make up the Hopeful Stakes roster, while Courageous, Easy to Win, Filipino Emperor, Jack Hammer, Jawo, Lourdes Drive, Mount Bulusan, Probinsyano, The Barrister, Xia’s Best and Yosemite will run in the 3YO Locally Bred Stakes Race.
Prior to Sepfourteen’s Triple Crown achievement last season, 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.
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.