Shastaloo grabbed the lead at the 600-meter mark and held on to frustrate the three-peat bid of Righteous Ruby Sunday, Nov. 20, in the 2022 Philracom Ambassador Eduardo M. Cojuangco Jr. Cup at the Metro Manila Turf Club.
The second choice beat the overwhelming favorite by a neck in the one of the richest racing events in the country held to honor the late sportsman and former chairman and CEO of San Miguel Corp.
The four-year-old filly by Algorithms out of Water Park was nicely tucked within striking distance while the overwhelming favorite was third to last with Raintree Starlet and Runway battling for the lead early on.
At the half-mile pole of the 2,000-meter race, Righteous Ruby encountered trouble, finding herself trapped by the rail, a place very unfamiliar to her with Shastaloo having a traffic-free run about six-wide.
At the 3/8-mile pole, jockey Jeffril Zarate used this tactical advantage to the fullest, egging his mount to charge for home.
He was successful as Shastaloo responded gamely, taking a huge lead that proved too hard for Righteous Ruby to overcome.
The Dante Salazar-trained galloper stopped the clock at 2:02 with quarters of 23-23′-25-24-26′.
The win was worth P3-million for Shastaloo’s connections with Righteous Ruby’s having to settle for the P1-million runner-up prize.
Rounding out the top six were Time For Glory (bagging P500-thousand), Bombay Nights (P250-thousand), Runway Dreamer (P150-thousand) and Starrininmydreams (P100,000).
On hand during the awarding ceremonies was DILG Secretary and a true-blue horseman Benhur Abalos who handed the trophy to the winning owner.
For his part, Philracom Chairman Reli de Leon said, “First, I’d like to congratulate the Metropolitan Association of Race Horse Owners for a well-attended and successful 27th edition of their Breeder’s Championships. Secondly, congratulations are also in order for the connections of Shastaloo and the rest of the winners of today’s races.”
De Leon added that there are still more exciting races with December coming up highlighted by the P10-million 2022 Presidential Gold Cup on Dec. 18.