A DAY AT THE RACES WITH A SUPERHORSE NAMED DON ENRICO
Last Sunday, December 6, my brother, a brother-in-law and a cousin, for want of better things to do, dragged me to Carmona, Cavite, the home of San Lazaro Leisure Club, the foremost racetrack in the Philippines today. The racetrack had been there for many years now but it was only our third time to the place. We arrived at around one thirty in the afternoon and quickly found out that the food there remained priced exorbitantly. The club was packed with not only the racing program-wielding kareristas but also with their families (their wives and their small children).
It was the day of Presidential Gold Cup, the biggest and most prestigious event in Philippine horseracing—the prize money for the winner was a whopping two and a half millions pesos, and one of the horses running in that event was owned by the boss of my brother-in-law.
The Presidential Gold Cup ran at around five in the afternoon and was won by a superhorse named Don Enrico, the favorite horse in the race, beating another superhorse named Ibarra. My bayaw’s bossing’s horse, unfortunately, didn’t really figure in the monumental race.
The incumbent president usually graced the said event but last Sunday, not one representative from the First Family was there to honor the affair.
Aside from the Gold Cup event, we were able to watch six other exciting races—one of the jockeys in the fifth race was unseated and had to be carried on a stretcher. As usual, it was fun to watch thoroughbred horses trying to outspeed and outlast each other down to the payoff wire. A horse named Malihim won the sixth race and it was a real longshot, meaning only few bet on it—nailihim ng kabayo ang galing niya.
After seven races, we got out of the club, jokingly contemplated transferring to a nearby casino, went to our car, drove out of Carmona, hungrily ate at a restaurant then went back to Manila bringing home a few pasalubongs which included a bottle of duhat wine.
It was the day of Presidential Gold Cup, the biggest and most prestigious event in Philippine horseracing—the prize money for the winner was a whopping two and a half millions pesos, and one of the horses running in that event was owned by the boss of my brother-in-law.
The Presidential Gold Cup ran at around five in the afternoon and was won by a superhorse named Don Enrico, the favorite horse in the race, beating another superhorse named Ibarra. My bayaw’s bossing’s horse, unfortunately, didn’t really figure in the monumental race.
The incumbent president usually graced the said event but last Sunday, not one representative from the First Family was there to honor the affair.
Aside from the Gold Cup event, we were able to watch six other exciting races—one of the jockeys in the fifth race was unseated and had to be carried on a stretcher. As usual, it was fun to watch thoroughbred horses trying to outspeed and outlast each other down to the payoff wire. A horse named Malihim won the sixth race and it was a real longshot, meaning only few bet on it—nailihim ng kabayo ang galing niya.
After seven races, we got out of the club, jokingly contemplated transferring to a nearby casino, went to our car, drove out of Carmona, hungrily ate at a restaurant then went back to Manila bringing home a few pasalubongs which included a bottle of duhat wine.
Below are some of the pictures (a panoramic view of the racetrack, the drum and lyre band that helped give the event a fiesta atmosphere, the winning horse Don Enrico and its winning rider, class A jockey FM Raquel Jr. accepting his trophy) I’ve taken with my cell phone inside the racing club.
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