Equestrian bets in medal race

BUSAN, South Korea – The Philippines finished a joint fourth overall and loomed as a strong medal aspirant in equestrian after its all-female crew led by Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski and cousin Danielle Cojuangco held their own in the first round of elimination at the Busan equestrian grounds Friday here.

The RP riders were actually one of only four teams very much in contention for medals in the team show jumping event with Japan and Korea leading the way with zero penalty, followed by Malaysia with three.

The Filipinas were tied with the Iranians with four penalty points each.

On board eight-year-old Rustic Rouge, Mikee, 28, a veteran rider in the Asian Games, cleared all 13 jumps in the sleek obstacle course, so did Danielle, 17–granddaughter of San Miguel chair Danding Cojuangco–atop eight-year Ascot, to fuel the RP bid. Jaworski had an elapsed time of 108.83 and Cojuangco 108.02.

Toni Leviste, another seasoned rider who has just competed in the World Championship in Jerez, Spain, drew four-point penalty when she failed to clear the second to the last obstacle aboard her horse Nazli. She had 111.24 elapsed time.

The fourth rider in the team, Michelle Cojuangco Barrera, absorbed an eight-point penalty by knocking down her final two obstacles on board Coal Miner and didn’t count in the four-to-ride-three-to-count scoring system. She timed 111.05.

"Tingnan natin bukas baka suertihin tayo. It is important we do well because our scores will be the bases for the qualifying in the individual events," said Mikee, daughter of former Congressman Peping Cojuangco who witnessed the proceedings with son-in-law Dudot Jaworski. Mikee was a SEAG medallist and winner in the New Delhi meet last year.

Leviste was riding perfectly until the 11th obstacles when she didn’t make the proper approach after the horse had reacted coming in.

"I was concerned about the plank when we made the turn but Nazli overreacted when I was setting her up, and I also overreacted and it was a bit messy," said Leviste, whose father former Gov. Tony Leviste and mom were also on the stand.

"But tomorrow is a whole new day and anything can happen and we hope to do better," added Leviste.

The results of the two-day show jumping will determine the top 20 who will compete for the individual event on Monday on the last day of the Asian Games.

Also lending support to the only all-women squad in the field were Mr. Cojuangco’s wife Gretchen, Danielle’s parents Pangasinan Rep. Mark Cojuangco and wife Kimi, and Mike and Tina Barrera, parents of Michelle.