Philracom lines up Xmas racefest

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Racing Commission has launched the Christmas Racing Festival, which aims to make the holiday season more interesting to racing aficionados.

Up to 13 races will be allowed every Sunday up to Dec. 27, regardless of how many stakes or invitational races are on the card.

All Christmas Racing Festival races will have additional prizes of P15,000 from Philracom, plus a guaranteed gross prize of P125,000 to the winner only from the host racing club.

The winning horseowners will also receive an additional P10,000 prize (P5,000 from Philracom and P5,000 from the host club).

The Philracom Christmas races are expected to add spice to the agency’s holiday lineup of calendared stakes races for December:

On Dec. 13 at San Lazaro Leisure Park, the Philracom holds  the Juvenile Championship mile with total prizes of P2.5 million for first to fourth places. The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office 43rd Presidential Gold Cup will be held the same day with P4 million in total prizes, of which P1 million comes from Philracom.

On Dec. 20 at Santa Ana Park, the Philracom Chairman’s Cup will be held in honor of a past chairman of the agency, with total prize money of P2 million. On Dec. 27 at Metroturf, the Philracom Grand Derby for local 3YO comes next, with P1 million in total prizes.

Philracom, according to its chairman Andrew Sanchez, is finalizing its 2016 calendar of races and making other preparations for new events in the coming year.