All set for Bagatsing Festival

MANILA, Philippines - The ninth staging of the Mayor Ramon Bagatsing Memorial Racing Festival is once again expected to reach greater heights in terms of revenue and excitement.

“Hopefully this year we can set a new milestone,” said Amado Bagatsing, a former Manila congressman, during yesterday’s press launch at Resorts World Manila.

The 2014 edition of the Bagatsing Festival produced record sales of P43.2 million, and the son of the late mayor expects a new record when the races are held on Sept. 2 and 3 at the San Lazaro Leisure Park in Carmona, Cavite.

“We hope to make P47 million this year from the 23 races we are lining up. So far, we have 21 sponsored races, with guaranteed prizes ranging from P300,000 to P1.2 million,” said Bagatsing.

The Manila Jockey Club headed by Alfonso “King” Reyno is once again sponsoring the festival, which will benefit the Kabaka Foundation. Among the major backers are the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), Resorts World Manila and Solaire Resort and Casino.

“If there are the majors in golf or tennis, this is one of the true majors in horseracing in our country,” said the MJC president and chief operating officer.

Bagatsing said the highlight of this year’s two-day festival, dubbed “Unity: Race as One,” is the P1.2 million Challenge Race, where winners of the Triple Crown legs in 2016 will challenge this year’s Triple Crown champion, Sepfourteen.

The chestnut colt of Santa Clara Stockfarm, Inc., now in the company of great champions like Fair and Square (1981), Skywalker (1983), Time Master (1987), Magic Showtime (1988), Sun Dancer (1989), Strong Material (1996), Real Top (1998), Silver Story (2001), Hagdang Bato (2012) and Kid Molave (2014), will face the challenge of past Triple Crown leg winners in the most anticipated race on Sept. 3.

“This is a real challenge,” said Bagatsing, adding that organizers already have 30 groupings of well-balanced races, from which the 23 races will be chosen and presented during the festival.

This year’s theme aims to attract all the country’s stakeholders of the industry together, as well as members of the Manila Cockers Club (MCC), who have agreed to sponsor one of the races.

“Cockfighting is bigger than horseracing, with over 2,000 cockpits in 1,500 municipalities. So it we can lure all the cockfighters into horseracing, then it will be very good for everybody in the industry,” said Bagatsing.