JOCKEY Mark Alvarez pulled off an amazing double victory over the weekend by steering Sherbet Fountain to the King’s Gold Cup crown and Morally to the Prince Cup Stakes title at the Metro Manila Turf Club in Malvar, Batangas, last Sunday.
Alvarez rode the undefeated Morally (Mo Town-Street rally by Hard Spun) to a race-clinching time of one minute and 23.60 seconds over 1,400 meters, beating Calculus, Anytime Anywhere and Tiz The Moon Rumored in the first of a three-leg series.
He again rode four-year-old Sherbet Fountain to victory over imported horses Glenamoon, Xtra Extraordinary, Manila de Bay, Hey Joe Joe and Counter Attack with a one-minute and 9.40-second time over 1,200 meters.
Both winning horses are owned by Gabriel Gaerlan, with ES Roxas and MA Alvarez as Morally and Sherbet Fountain’s trainers, respectively.
MMTCI chairman and president Atty. Narciso Morales and Miss Universe 2020 Rabiya Mateo awarded the trophies and prizes to the winners of the two-day racing events that shattered industry sales records.
“I’m very much thankful to the principal sponsor, Mr. Ramon Ang of San Miguel Corporation for supporting this king of sports which contributes greatly to the coffers of the government by way of income taxes from our company,” Morales said.
“We expect the second and third legs of the series to be more exciting and thrilling with the arrival of more than a hundred imported racehorses, all champions from different countries,” he said.
“This will boost the market of our horse racing industry, improve the breeding through known international bloodlines and pedigrees,” added Morales as he made special mention of the field that included top imported racehorses from Kentucky, USA, Europe, Australia and Singapore.
The second leg is set for Aug. 15 and the third and final leg on Sept. 19 also at the Metro Manila Turf Club.
The stakes races are among the most profitable in the country’s history, with a guaranteed prize pool of P11 million and P5.5 million for the Prince Cup and King’s Gold Stakes, with the winning horse and owner getting P200,000 for every imported entry.
