The 11th Mayor Ramon D. Bagatsing Memorial Racing Festival, hosted by the Manila Jockey Club, Inc., at the San Lazaro Leisure Park in Carmona, Cavite recently, was the highest-grossing racing event of the year with sales reaching P27.4 million.
The weekend of action-packed horse races featured the country’s top thoroughbreds at the premier horse racing club, netting record number of viewers, participants and sales both on and off the race track.
Proceeds of the event, held for the benefit of the marginalized poor and the less privileged in Manila, will fund the KABAKA Foundation to bring social and medical assistance for free.
The late former Manila Mayor, Ramon D. Bagatsing Sr. established the KABAKA Foundation to make these social and medical assistance easily accessible to those who truly need it. The Bagatsing family continues the legacy of selfless service to Manilenyos, who have helped more than 50,000 residents of the capital.
Featuring 16 stakes races and luring major corporate sponsors and partners, the racing festival has raised a whopping cash prize of no less than P6,000,000 evenly distributed to all the champions.
Dubbed as a Repeat-Revenge-Redemption Race, it was both revenge and repeat for Hitting Spree in the Resorts World Manila Challenge of Champions, which tested the mettle of both local and imported 4-year-old horses in a 1,750-meter race. Hitting Spree claimed a second straight Challenge of Champions win, while getting revenge at its recent tormentor Viva Morena.
The primary racing event of the weekend, the Mayor Ramon D. Bagatsing Sr. 3 YO Open Classics, pitted local and imported 3-year-olds against one another in this 1,50- meter high stakes race, with Boss Emong, the winner of the 2nd Leg of this year’s Triple Crown Series, being crowned champion.
The Resorts World Manila Challenge of Champions and the Mayor Ramon D. Bagatsing Sr. 3 YO Open Classics gave out a total of P1.9 million in cash prizes.
A long-time tradition of the racing festival, the winning horses’ groom or “sota” received cash gifts from the Bagatsing family. This tradition continues to honor and invigorate unsung heroes and the backbone of the horseracing industry.
The cash prizes, along with the traditional gift prizes for the team of the winning horse, will be awarded by major sponsors Resorts World Manila, Philippine Racing Commission, the Manila Jockey Club, Inc., Manila Cockers Club Inc., Solaire Resort & Casino, Fundador. City of Dreams, F.R. Sevilla Industrial and Development Corporation, and the San Jose Builders Inc.
The Bagatsing Family also thanked their longtime supporters Cong. Tony Calixto and Bing Tecson for sponsoring the added prizes for the grooms and other aspects that add to the renowned Bagatsing Cup’s festivities.
One of MJC’s most prestigious events in its racing calendar, the Bagatsing Racing Festival continues to reinvigorate the passion of the Filipinos to enjoy a day in the track with their families watching the sport of kings—horse racing.
