Top horses head Bagatsing Cup list

MANILA, Philippines - A dream duel between two champion horses highlights this year’s edition of the Mayor Ramon Bagatsing Cup Racing Festival on Aug. 17 at the San Lazaro Leisure Park.

Triple Crown winner Hagdang Bato pits skills with import Crucis in a 1,750-meter race that serves as the major attraction of the annual event being held in honor of the late mayor Bagatsing who served the city of Manila for 15 years.

A P1 million prize money awaits the winner out of the total P7 million in total cash-and-kind prizes.

Manila Rep. Amado Bagatsing and former Manila Rep. and lawyer Ramon Bagatsing Jr. formally launched during the weekly Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum on Tuesday at Shakey’s Malate the sixth edition of the meet, where they were joined by Manila Jockey Club president Atty. Alfonso Reyno.

“This is one event that pits the best in Philippine racing,” said Rep. Bagatsing in the session presented by Shakey’s, Accel, and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.

“But it may not be a two-horse race because the other entries are capable of pulling an upset,” Bagatsing added.

Among those raring to buck the odds are up-and-coming Pinespun and Spinning Ridge, winner of two legs of the 2013 Philracom Triple Crown. Organizers also expect the possible entry of Pugad Lawin and other track stars as well.

Beneficiary of the racing festival is the Kabaka Foundation of Bagatsing, which now has a two-storey building that houses a clinic, pharmacy, and diagnostic center.

At the same time, the Bagatsing family will award a prize of P5,000 and a sack of rice to each winning groom, a tradition they began since the first ever edition of the meet.

Other major races of the Bagatsing Cup are the Philracom-Cup for 4YOs and older, Division 1 for local breds and Division II for imports, and the PCSO Cup Division I for 3YO fillies and Division II for 3YO colts.

Also supporting the meet is the Philracom chairman Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II, PCSO, and Resorts World Manila.