Owner Morales, rider Cortez reign
His stable winning a record five straight races in a single day to highlight a third-quarter romp, businessman Narciso Morales virtually completed a “three-peat” in the owners’ category while sophomore jockey O’Neal Cortez pulled away from his closest rivals going into the final three months of the horseracing season.
A Philippine Racing Commission report released a few days ago showed Team Morales posting 193 wins and 210 runner-up, 222 third and 239 fourth place finishes as of end-September to clinch the title for the third straight time and his fourth in the last six years.
“We thank the fans who continue to support horseracing in general and our runners in particular. We share our victories with the Bayang Karerista,” said Morales, a former recipient of the Philracom Horse Owner of the Year award.
Cortez looked poised to run away with the title in the jockeys division after pulling away from veteran Jonathan Hernandez with 139 victories on 645 rides as against the latter’s 90 wins in 345 mounts.
The Morales stable made news last month when Cortez-ridden Don Albertini won the Japan Racing Association Cup against six others in the biggest reversal in a stakes race since January.
That upset win by Don Albertini came a few weeks after the Morales stable left something for the record books – a five-race winning streak on a memorable Sunday that left fans and owners in awe.
Striking heavily in the regular races, Morales has amassed a total of P46,210,648 in prizes (gross), well ahead of SC Stockfarm, which has R21,743, 134 that includes around R5 million as Sepfourteen’s prizes in sweeping the Triple Crown series
Former Mandaluyong City mayor Benhur Abalos is running third with R13,544,560.
“We hope and pray that the stable makes it for the third straight year,” said Morales.
Sharing the spotlight was Cortez, who continued to lord it over in the jockeys division with R28,144,708 in prizes and looked poised to become a solid contender for the jockey of the year award in only his second year.