Bayang Karerista and the Triple Crown

THE LATE, great poet  Oscar de Zuñiga was once local sports journalism’s ace of horse racing reporters.

As young sportswriters in the early 1970s, we would gather around De Zuñiga whenever he showed up at the National Press Club in Intramuros.

In one corner of the club’s restaurant close to the stage, he would dispense a tip or two about his craft and a few probable winners at the then Santa Ana and San Lazaro hippodromes.

“Tatang” as we fondly called the guy singlehandedly sparked a run for beer at Dave’s bar as he regaled his listeners with facts and figures about US horse racing’s Triple Crown.

To this day, I still feel Tatang’s vibe and hear his voice slurred by gin and tonic talking about the elusive Triple as the most difficult feat to achieve in sports.

This same phrase has appeared in sports stories and telecasts lately like it is newly minted. But Tatang has mouthed it to us when we were greenhorns more than four decades ago.

Only 11 horses have won the Triple Crown.

There is no question that the second leg of the 2015 quest at Baltimore’s Pimlico Racecourse in Maryland this Saturday (Sunday in Manila) would excite many members of the Bayang Karerista at the new race places in Cavite and elsewhere in the horseracing universe.

Heck, a number of them probably would be wishing even for a 12th name in the Triple Crown list whose last entry was Affirmed in 1978.

Local horse racing does not need a shot in the arm since it is apparently on the upswing.

But in countries where the Sport of Kings has become moribund, there is a fervent prayer for a new Triple Crown winner to revive the business and attract a new generation of young bettors and fans.

Horse racing turns its eyes to Pimlico for the 140th Preakness Stakes this weekend and to the horse that can win it all.

American Pharaoh won the Kentucky Derby ran over two kilometers  at Churchill Downs two weeks ago and is now the 4-5 morning line favorite to stay on course and annex the next leg of the legendary pursuit.

If Pharaoh is  to become the first Triple Crown winner since 1978, he’ll have to buck a tactical disadvantage from post position one.

Experts said he will have to use a different running style from the rail for the 1.9-kilometer race to avoid being crowded by horses from the outside.

Twenty three horses have won the first two legs of the Triple Crown only to lose or never start due to injury in the last leg –the 2.4-kilometer Belmont Stakes in upstate New York.

***

In-laws and friends of the late Philippine Ambassador to Pakistan, Domingo Lucenario Jr. in my hometown, Cuyapo, Nueva Ecija, are remembering him with fondness and pride.

Lucenario’s brilliant diplomatic career was cut short by death in a helicopter crash in the Gilgit region of Pakistan.

Ambassador Doy was married to Cuyapo-born and -bred lawyer Nida Ocampo Arada with whom he had three children.

Nida went to high school with my sister Marisa Gregoria at the local St. Pius X Institute.