Philracom: Horseracing holiday will hit everyone

PHILIPPINE Racing Commission (Philracom) chair Angel Castaño Jr. yesterday called out to the three disgruntled groups of racehorse owners to call off their “racing holiday” and spare the industry from further losses.

“There are so many major players—jockeys, grooms, OTB stations, racing clubs and their employees, together with their respective families—in the industry who are dependent on horseracing,” Castano said in a statement to the Inquirer.

“They (racehorse owners) are barking up  the wrong tree here.”

On Monday night, the Marho, Philtobo and Klub Don Juan de Manila—three of the country’s biggest groups of racehorse owners and known as the “Tri-Org”—announced the racing holiday.

They said the boycott “would take effect for as long as it takes until changes in the Philracom board are made.”

Marho stands for Metropolitan Association of Race Horse Owners while Philtobo is the contraction for Philippine Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Organization.

The three groups have more than 2,200 active racehorses under their wings.

Racing programs and revenues of the country’s three racing clubs—San Lazaro Leisure Park, Santa Ana Park and MetroTurf Club—are expected to take a huge hit if the three racehorse owners groups do not declare their charges.

Castaño defended his agency from allegations of declining sales in the last two years, saying that revenues in the first five months of the year improved on the last two.

He also said that one of the reasons why the Tri-Org staged the racing holiday is because of the 3 percent the Philracom deducts from prize moneys to benefit the trainers’ fund.

“That fund was mandated by law in 1948 and we can’t abolish it just like that,” said Castaño. “Under the law, we are mandated to have that fund for the health, injury and retirement benefits of the horse trainers.”

The Tri-Org was to formally write President Aquino yesterday to air its grievances.

The group announced during a press conference Monday night at Club Filipino in Greenhills that they want nothing less than a complete revamp of the Philracom leadership.

The group also said it would ask the President to include its members in the selection of the members of a new board. With a report from Musong R. Castillo