The Philippine Racing Commission showcases seven local and imported horses 4 years old and older in this Sunday’s Japan Cup at Metro Manila Turf Club in Malvar, Batangas.
Manny Santos’s well-regarded 4YO filly Pride of Laguna will test herself over a distance of 1,400 meters against Edward Diokno’s Eugene Onegin (5YO male), Cool Summer Farm’s Hiway One (5YO male), Mar Tirona’s Lakan (7YO male), lawyer Benhur Abalos’s Son Also Rises (6YO male), and lawyer Narciso Morales’s coupled entries Sooner Time (6YO mare) and Summer Romance (5YO male).
Prizes amounting to P500,000 are allocated as follows: 1st place P300,000, 2nd P112,500, 3rd P62,500, and 4th P25,000.
If I remember correctly, the Japan Cup was founded by the Manila Jockey Club in the mid-00s; I was working as a commentator on the panel at that time. It was staged at San Lazaro Leisure Park until 2014 or so when the Philracom took over as the event organizer.
What’s notable about this event is that representatives from Japan Racing Association are always on hand to grace the occasion. This year we welcome JRA’s Hiroyuki Koezuka and Teruhisa Nishiyama and thank them for their support of the Philracom Japan Cup.
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The Philracom Trainers Academy will be opening this year to a second batch of students, and those interested are encouraged to apply.
The Academy was founded through a Philracom Board resolution in 2015, and opened its doors to its first cohort the year after. Its Racehorse Trainers Certificate Course is a two-year program that instructs would-be trainers through courses designed to instill knowledge and skills necessary for the job.
The courses are: equine anatomy and conformation, equine health disease and management, equine nutrition, stable management, basic conformation and lameness, horse training and fitness development, animal welfare (legal aspects), and the rules and regulations of horseracing (licensing and stud book). There is also a year-long apprenticeship.
For the first year, 2019: Coursework, 1st semester, April to July; 2nd semester, September to December. Second year, 2020: Coursework from January to April; apprenticeship from January to December (practical subject).
The Academy’s administrators are Ceferino Maala, DVM, MVSc, PhD, professor emeritus University of the Philippines-Los Banos College of Veterinary Medicine and member of the National Academy of Science and Technology; and Romy G. Modomo, DVM, equine medicine expert and veterinary medicine practitioner with decades of experience in horseracing.
To apply to the Academy, submit the following: completed application form (download the editable Excel file at ‘Gogirl Racing Group’, search for it in Facebook); barangay or NBI clearance; a certificate of good moral character; certificate from a physician regarding physical fitness; 2×2 ID picture; and a drug test certificate (must pass screening for illegal drugs).
Regarding the educational attainment requirement, submit a certified true copy of high school diploma (4th year HS old system or senior high school K-12) or transcript up to Grade 10 (K-12 system); if a college grad or with some years of college, send in the college diploma or transcript.
Email the completed application form and soft copies of the documents on or before March 15 to: [email protected].
If you prefer a paper (hard copy) version of the application form, please visit the Philracom office in Makati and look for Ms Diding Estandian. Call her at 893-1453.
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