Defending champion Hitting Spree tries to make it three in a row in the 2019 Ambassador Eduardo M. Cojuangco Jr. Cup on Sunday at the Saddle and Clubs Leisure Park Racetrack in Naic, Cavite.
The SC Stockfarm-owned Hitting Spree delivered an emphatic five-length victory in keeping her Ambassador Eduardo M. Cojuangco Jr. Cup crown last year at the same venue.
For the third straight year, Hitting Spree will be ridden again by jockey Kelvin Abobo in the prestigious 2,000-meter race offering a whopping total purse of P3,150,000 and held in honor of the San Miguel Corp. Chairman, a stalwart in the horseracing industry.
Twelve other thoroughbreds, led by Hitting Spree’s stablemate and Triple Crown winner Sepfourteen (jockey JA Guce), will be crowding the reigning titlist for the top purse of P1.8 million in the rich racing weekend put up by the Philippine Racing Commission.
Runner-up gets P675,000, while third-, fourth- and fifth-placers receive P375,000, P150,000 and P100,000, respectively.
Ambassador Cojuangco himself has donated special championship trophies to the winners and a medallion to the champion jockey.
Joining the fray are Bugle Notes (jockey JB Hernandez, owner Bell Racing Stable); Certain To Win (CP Henson, Bingson Tecson); Christmas Sky (Pat R Dilema, C&H Enterprises, Inc.); Greatwall (FM Raquel, Jr., Robert Ramirez); Metamorphosis (CS Pare Jr., Francisco Paulo Crisostomo); Murika (RG Fernandez, Joseph Dyhengco); Super Sonic (JB Guce, Leonardo Javier, Jr.); Time and Again (Val R. Dilema, Napoleon Magno); Truly Ponti (PM Cabalejo, Narciso Morales); UND Kantar (Ro Niu, Jr., Melaine Habla); and Viva Morena (Dan Camañero, Bienvenido Pierre Niles III.)
“The big guns are all here, making the Ambassador Eduardo M. Cojuangco Jr. Cup truly one of the year’s biggest races in terms of prize money and star power. Racing enthusiasts will be in for a treat,” said Philracom Chairman Andrew A. Sanchez.
More big stakes races are still in the offing from Philracom in the coming months. After the Ambassador Eduardo M. Cojuangco Jr. Cup is the 2nd leg of the 3YO Imported/Local Challenge on Nov. 24.
December proves to be the busiest horseracing month for big races with the Philracom’s holding of the 3rd leg of the Juvenile Fillies and Colts Stakes Races on the 1st, the Grand Sprint Championship on the 15th, the Chairman’s Cup and the 3rd leg of the 3YO Imported/Local Challenge Series on the 29th and the Juvenile Championship on the 31st.
