Batangas Entry top pick today

Multiple stakes winner Batangas Entry sets out to score his second major race conquest for the year as he leads an impressive cast of seasoned stakes campaigners running in the "PAGCOR Stakes" – one of two featured races headlined today at the San Lazaro Hippodrome.

Returning to action since his second place finish to champion Wind Blown in the recent Gran Copa de Manila, the celebrated four-year-old dark bay colt will battle six other game gallopers for the P200,000 top prize in a race sponsored by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR).

In the companion main event, classy filly Kitty Hawk parades as the favorite in the 1,500-meter, P300,000 "Petron Stakes."

Today’s twin-bill stakes offering caps the two-day "Alay sa Kawal Racing Festival," a fund-raising event jointly backed by the Alay sa Kawal Foundation, Inc. (ASKFI) and the Manila Jockey Club Inc. (MJCI) for the benefit of the underprivileged members of the Armed Forces.

"The staging of the Alay sa Kawal racefest is indicative of the horseracing industry’s deep concern for the welfare of our country’s soldiers, heroic individuals who have offered their lives to the cause of defending our freedom and preserving our national integrity," said MJCI president and ASKFI trustee, Alfonso R. Reyno Jr.

Among those expected to lend their support to the occasion are Defense Secretary and former AFP chief Angelo Reyes, head of the festival’s organizing committee, and the trustees of the Alay sa Kawal Foundation led by its chairman, former Finance Secretary Edgardo Espiritu, and president Ramon Pedrosa.

Set to pose the biggest challenge to Batangas Entry in the "PAGCOR Stakes" is Gran Copa Division II winner Sky Hawk, a noted come-from-behind charger which last year bagged the title as champion three-year-old filly. — R. Romualdez

Also in contention for the 1,500-meter event are noted sprinters Ariba King, Hazmoore and Bull Rider, consistent performer Master Ijhay and US-bred campaigner Sunny Contender.

Meanwhile, challenging Kitty Hawk for the premier spot in the "Petron Stakes" are foreign-breds Jade Louise (AUS) and Heredera (NZ) and local bets Super Sharp, High Roller, Gifted Guest and Going Free.

Lending support to the daylong festivities is the staging of six other Alay sa Kawal races backed by Petron, PAGCOR, Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) and San Miguel Beer (SMB) and the monthly PCSO Sweepstakes Race. All Alay sa Kawal Races will each carry a guaranteed pot of P230,000 distributed to the winners and placers, while the PCSO Sweepstakes carries a guaranteed winner’s purse of P300,000.

Today’s 14-race program at the San Lazaro Hippodrome is scheduled to commence at 11:40 a.m. with the running of the PCSO Sweepstakes Race featuring five promising two-year-old maiden runners.