Midnight Lady whips West Bound

After a slow start, Midnight Lady put on a strong finish to beat West Bound in a thrilling neck-to-neck encounter last night and rule the Sta. Lucia Cup before a cheering crowd at the Sta. Ana Park.

Midnight Lady, ridden by Pat Dilema, and West Bound, steered by Antonio Alcasid, turned the 1,600-m race into their own battle rounding out the far turn to set up the tight finish.

But in the end, it was Midnight Lady who packed the strength to win the P300,000 purse with a time of 1:39 (24’-25-25-27’). West Bound was a neck short for second followed by a charging Catwalk Pia.

West Bound won P100,000 for the runner-up finish while Catwalk Pia, ridden by Joel Zarate, settled for a P50,000 pay.

You Know That and Sunny Contender dictated the early tempo with Buena Sera and Neat Laurel a couple of lengths behind. Midnight Lady moved to fourth on the backstretch and was later joined by West Bound when she made her big move.

The top two favorites entered the homestretch side by side with Midnight Lady by the rail. It was such an exciting finish with both jockeys whipping their horses to the finish. — Ramon Romualdez