A grander Kabayo Festival, which has been renamed to the “Governor's Cup 2008,” will come off the wraps on February 15 at the Mandaue Reclamation Area beside the Cebu Doctor's University campus.

Antonio V. Quisumbing, director of the Cebu Equine Owners, Breeders and Sportsmen Association (Ceobsa), said the event will be bigger this year with the Cebu provincial government as their partner in organizing the event.

“We are expecting at least 80 participants coming from Masbate, Ormoc, Davao, Malaybalay, Bukidnon, Impasugong, Bukidnon, Cagayan de Oro, Luzon and Dumaguete,” Quisumbing said.

Local participants will be coming from Naga, Minglanilla, Borbon and Talisay City.

Most of the avid horsemen in the Philippines are expected to attend the three-day event, which is the kick-off leg of the Philippine Horsemen Federation's (PHF) 6-leg horse competition.

Categories to be contested are the barrel race, obstacle race, tartanilla race, oval or flat race and jumping race.

There will be A and B classes with men's, ladies and mixed divisions.

The winners will be given points. The points that competitors get in all six legs will be tallied and the rider with the highest number of points will be named PHF's Horseman of the Year, Rookie of the Year and different Riders of the Year.

According to Quisumbing, the three coveted titles are what makes the event very important to horsemen.

“Aside from that, the festival is like a horsemen's congress and convention, a chance for all horse enthusiasts to get together,” he said.

Mandaue City is also throwing its full support to the Ceobsa-organized event, in cooperation with the Department of Tourism.

Quisumbing said this year, they will also try to add in a “poker's night” for the horsemen aside from the event's regular side show, the “Tabo sa Sugbu.”

What used to be “Tabo sa Sugbu” will now become a trade fair that would showcase the specialty of each of the Cebu province's municipality. /Copy Editor Marsante G. Alison