|
THERE’S
this one painting I noticed late last year at the
showroom of Jaguar and Land Rover at the Enrique Zobel
building in Buendia, Makati when it launched the all-new
Jaguar XK.
I wasn’t
able to go nearer to the painting but I knew that the
painting is somewhat familiar with what I have at home.
Some weeks back during the Jaguar-Land Rover
Invitational Golf Tournament at the Sta. Elena Golf &
Country Club, it was no less than Willie Soong, the
amiable chairman and president of Jaguar Philippines,
who identified the painting.
“That
one was done by Roberto Balajadia and it has a really
interesting story that I would like to tell you,” he
said, as goose bumps crawled in his arms as I mentioned
to him that the said painter had already died two years
ago.
“That
painting was actually given to me by my wife several
years ago and the horse painted on it is named Fiorella,
a champion horse owned by Gretchen Cojuangco (yes, the
wife of Amb. Danding Cojuangco Jr.).”
Fiorella
was the 1976 Presidential Gold Cup Champion and the
fourth one since the blue-ribbon event was inaugurated
in 1973. The first three champions were Sun God, Ilocos
King and Henna’s Gold in that order.
Although
it’s only some few minutes before the shotgun start of
the tournament, Boss Willie was able to enumerate the
sequence of events which he could not forget.
“There’s
this moving pneumatic camera which Danding asked me to
handle and shoot a very big and important race of
Fiorella. ‘Kaya mo ’yan Willie kaya ikaw na
ang kumuha ng video’ he said. Ako naman hindi na
ako nakahindi,” he said.
To make
the story short, Fiorella won the championship and Boss
Willie’s boys were able to shoot that event on video.
But something went awry the next day when Boss Danding
saw the video was in black and white. “What happened?”
they all asked.
When
Boss Danding asked for the help of some guys from one
major TV station, one commented that the guy who handled
it might have touched or tinkered with the equipment.
When he
learned about it, Boss Willie was red-faced and really
wanting to apologize. But it took more than
one-and-a-half years before he could get in touch with
Boss Danding again. And when that happened, he casually
approached Boss Danding and asked for an apology for
what happened with the video. He even offered the
painting of Fiorella which his wife gave him in order to
repay his error.
“But
Boss Danding said no. ‘Keep that painting because it is
very good and the painter is a good one.”
That’s
why the painting still decorates that showroom up to
these days!” Boss Willie said as he immediately bid us
goodbye to go tee off.
Roberto
Balajadia painted hundreds of other champion horses
which are now in the hands of many collectors in the
country. We became friends when he personally visited me
in our booth then when we were still covering the live
races at the old San Lazaro Hippodrome in Tayuman.
As time
flew, I realized that he had given me five of his very
excellent paintings of horses. All of them had graced
our panel in the live coverage of the races before. I
know that those paintings are now rare and are going to
be very expensive. But like that painting at the hands
of Willie Soong, I would treasure them a lot as a sign
of my golden friendship with the man who immortalized
hundreds of champion horses in his canvases.
*****
I WAS
one of those who were shocked when the news of Jun
Bernardino’s untimely demise during the weekend.
Boss
JunB was one of our big supporters during my three terms
as president of the Sports Communicators’ Organization
of the Philippines (SCOOP). He was there as one of our
invited guest in the Fridays SCOOP sa Kamayan in Quezon
City every time we wanted a good number of attendees
from our members. He is also out in giving orders to all
the PBA member-teams to support the SCOOP sa Kamayan at
all times.
I’ve had
the honor to play with him in various basketball
invitational games also during our SCOOP days and he is
always there giving pieces of advice to us regarding our
organization.
Our
deepest condolences to the family of Boss JunB! Our
prayers also to you, Boss JunB!
*****
DO you
remember that American horse John Henry?
He
turned 32 late this month and this horseracing’s elder
statesman and two-time Horse of the Year is still strong
as ever. If he is human, John Henry’s age is 96.
No horse
in the history had ever lived up to that age. The mighty
Secretariat died at 19 while Seattle Slew, the latest
Triple Crown champ America had produced, passed away at
28. Since he is a gelded one, John Henry wasn’t able to
spread his breed into the world of racing. He now lives
at the Kentucky Horse Park’s Hall of Champions along
with a handful of former champs including Cigar.
“He’s
still a winner,” said Hall of Fame jockey Chris McCarron,
who helped John Henry retire as the richest horse in
racing history in 1985. “Every time he has another
birthday he’s won another race.” |
