Philracom’s Triple Crown 1st leg set on Sunday

Seven of the country’s finest thoroughbreds clash in the first leg of the most prestigious racing extravaganza for three-year-old horses – the Philippine Racing Commission (Philracom)-backed Triple Crown series on Sunday at the San Lazaro Leisure Park in Carmona, Cavite.

Leading the cast is Smart Candy, the SC Stockfarm three-year-old filly who won two of the three legs of Philracom’s 3YO Stakes Race series early this year.

Ridden by jockey Kevin Abobo, Smart Candy scored a sweet and emphatic win in the second leg of the 3YO series, ruling the 1,500-meter race eight lengths over her closest pursuer last March, before proving her staying power in the longer 1,600-meter third leg by fending off the spirited late charge of the field to win by a length a month later.

Smart Candy will be trying to duplicate the feat of its SC Stockfarm stablemate Sepfourteen, who swept the Triple Crown series last year, a feat that crowned the then 3YO colt the Philippine Sportswriters Association’s 2017 Horse of the Year.

Standing in Smart Candy’s way are its stablemate Box Office, Misha of Leonardo Javier Jr., Talitha Koum of George Raquidan, Victorious Colt of Antonio Zialcita and Herminio Esguerra’s Wonderland and Speedmatic, whose most memorable triumph came in the third leg of the Philracom’s Juvenile Colts/Fillies Stakes Races late last year.

“The first leg of the Triple Crown is such an important race in the series, because its winner is the only one with the chance to go all the way for the rare three-peat,” said Philracom chairman Andrew Sanchez. “I’m sure it will be a battle royale among the seven horses on Sunday.”