Unheralded Dixie Gold clinches PCSO Gold Cup

MANILA, Philippines - Four-year-old colt Dixie Gold scored the biggest win of his career as he upstaged heavy favorite Low Profile in the recent PCSO Presidential Gold Cup to cap one of the most exciting finals of the 43-year-old classic, considered as the Holy Grail of local racing.

The victory was sweeter for proud owner and breeder Joey Dyhengco as he finally conquered the elusive “Gold Cup-Silver Cup double” following the unexpected victory of his other prized filly, Skyway, in the counterpart mid-year classic.

It was a vindication of sorts for the youthful businessman, whose long years of passion and commitment to the sport started way back in 1998 with champion sprinter Jaguar.

“We deliberately rested Dixie Gold for one-and-a-half months in preparation for the Gold Cup and fortunately for us, the pace of the race worked in our favor and played perfectly to his come-from-behind running style,” said Dyhengco.

He completed the 2,000-meter race in a modest 2:08 with quarters of 23.6-23.4-26.4-26.6-28 at the San Lazaro Leisure Park (SLLP) in Carmona, Cavite.

An island-born bay colt by leading California-based stallion Dixie Chatter out of My Gal’s Gold by Gold Alert, Dixie Gold jumpstarted his racing career by finishing third in the PCSO Special Maiden race two years ago at the SLLP, in a race that also included eventual winner Low Profile and last year’s Triple Crown champion Kid Molave, which wound up second.

Coincidentally, the dams of these three horses arrived in the country on the same flight from the US west coast four years ago and not long after gave birth to those three outstanding gallopers in three separate farms in Batangas.

Dixie Chatter’s victory also served as a major boost to jockey Patricio “Patty” Dilema, who has lately been overshadowed by younger contemporaries, as he picked up win number three in the prestigious Presidential Gold Cup following similar conquests atop the legendary Wind Blown in 2001 and Pugad Lawin’s upset victory over Hagdang Bato in 2013.

“It was just our luck that the pacers tired themselves out front,” said Dilema as he picked up his biggest win to date.

Dyhengco also commended horse trainer Anthony Francisco and the whole Cool Summer Farm team for another splendid prep job for the big race, a mean feat considering that their entry was coming off a short spell and had to be in top form over a short period of time.