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TODAY I
join those who express their warmest congratulations to
this newspaper for celebrating its third year of
existence.
Three
long years, really, and the BusinessMirror continues to
be one of the leading dailies that churns out regular
news and features aside from its role of giving you “a
broader look at today’s business.”
Three
deafening cheers must go to our head honcho, Ambassador
Tony Cabangon Chua (or Amba to us) for having the vision
and courage in putting up such a magnificent
endeavor—which is putting up this newspaper!
I could
still vividly remember the day when former Fortune Life
Insurance president and a dear friend, Mandy Trinidad,
introduced me to Amba. After he “welcomed us aboard,” I
got a big surprise when he said “Thank you for believing
in this newspaper!”
The rest
is already a treasured history in my already 27 years in
the local newspaper industry. I will never forget that
moment. We salute you, Amba!
****
FIVE
exciting fillies and mares were finally declared to vie
for the whopping P1.2 million at stake in the 2008
Philippine Racing Commission (Philracom) Sampaguita
Stakes to be held on October 19 at the San Lazaro
Leisure Park.
Those
putting up a spirited chase for the top prize of
P720,000 are Nery Sunga’s Es Twenty Six, Hermie
Esguerra’s Indelible Ink, Mayor Benhur Abalos’s Pearl
Buck, Neil Velasco’s Treasured Ack and Rep. Jeci Lapus’s
Victorian Stone.
The
runner-up in this 1,900-meter race among the best
fillies and mares in the land will receive P270,000,
while the third and fourth placers get P150,000 and
P50,000, respectively. The breeder of the winning horse
will also receive a bonus of P50,000.
This is
the first time that the multititled Es Twenty Six,
third-leg winner of the Triple Crown (TC) Series last
year, will be facing Indelible Ink, the first leg winner
of the TC Series this year and considered the best
three-year-old filly around.
Many
racing aficionados are keenly awaiting this match-up,
which is a “dream confrontation” among the best distaff
runners in the country today. This is one race the
connections of all the participants are definitely
waiting for since winning it shall give them bragging
right of being the champion female galloper.
****
DAVID
CHESTER, the managing director of the Magic Millions,
declared that the catalogue for the October 28 and 29
Magic Millions National Horses in Training Sale
continues to get bigger and better, as the second
supplementary catalogue for the auction has attracted 15
more youngsters pushing the overall catalogue past the
500 mark.
“This
year’s catalogue is nothing short of outstanding. All of
our leading stallions are represented. The Gold Coast
National Horses in Training Sale is one of the
fastest-growing, in regards to quality, in the world.”
The sale
program officially kicks off with two days of breeze-ups
at the Gold Coast Turf Club on October 28 and 29. The
action will then swing to the Magic Millions Sales
Complex for two action-packed days of sales on October
30 and 31.
Chester was in
Manila two weeks back during the holding of the Magic
Millions Sales Cup Races. The winner there were Roland
Lim’s Lim expensive Toy (by Giant’s Causeway from the
stakes winning Nediym mare Prophet’s Kiss, was purchased
by Lim for just $30,000 at the 2007 Magic Millions
National Yearling Sale), Hermie Esguarra’s Blind Date (a
daughter of Dexter that was purchased from the draft of
Emirates Park at the 2006 Magic Millions National
Weanling Sale) and Midnight King (by King Cugat from the
winning Octagonal mare Midnight Nova raced by Pierre
Niles III, which is turning out to be a great money
spinner after his purchase from the 2006 Magic Millions
National Yearling Sale for a mere $3,000).
“We have
a large contingent from the Philippines that come to a
number of our sales during the year and we’re delighted
to run these three races in Manila,” said Chester.
Now is
the time to go abroad and buy horses since the market is
down and lots of good-quality horses are ready for the
picking at low, low prices. The ongoing meltdown in the
US has already been felt in the various auction houses
in the US.
First it
was in the recent Fasig-Tipton and now in the
just-concluded Ocala Breeders’ Sales’ fall mixed
auction. Reports filtering said the results of those
three-day sales were really “grim” as the buyback/no-bid
rate rose significantly while the other key business
figures suffered huge setbacks.
“We
didn’t have high expectations going in based on what was
happening at the other horse sales. The financial
picture also was worsening as time went on, and the wild
fluctuations on Wall Street caused concern going in. We
felt that we would be impacted by that, and we certainly
did feel the pain, that’s for sure. The spots where
things were bright were much fewer, but I do think there
were some bright spots. The quality, physical weanlings
that were by stallions which have commercial appeal were
still in demand. That type of horse did just fine, and
actually there were some comments that those horses were
still hard to buy, but it was a very narrow group. I
think the buyers, if they are going to pay top
dollar—especially for weanlings—they’re demanding those
horses to be just what they want. The only other way to
look at the sale from the positive side is that some of
the younger mares, with some pedigree behind them, did
okay. The buyers were able to take advantage of the
situation and get them at a price lower than what they
would have had to pay in years past. The people with the
long-term view who were trying to buy quality bloodlines
benefited,” said Tom Ventura, the OBS general manager
and director of sales.
One need
not look far in what we’re driving at as these figures
will show you the real picture of the sales market. The
384 horses sold grossed $3,457,800 and averaged $9,005
during the one consignor-preferred and two open
sessions. The median price was $4,500. Compared with
2007, the number sold dropped 42.6 percent from 669,
while the gross plummeted 64.9 percent from $9,841,600.
The average fell 38.8 percent from $14,711, and the
median declined 40 percent from $7,500. The
buyback/no-bid rate increased from 40.5 percent last
year to $46.4 percent this year.
Need we
say more?
****
ROBERT
BOSCH Inc.’s Kaycee Crisostomo sent an invitation for
tonight and tomorrow’s first Mabuhay Germany! Expo at
the Bonifacio High Street.
Organized by the German-Philippine Chamber of Commerce
and Industry Inc., the event features best of Germany in
a unique cultural experience for adults and kids alike.
Over 30 German companies will be featured—top-billed by
renowned car brands Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi while a
vast array of industrial and consumer technology
together with games and arts and crafts for kids, German
food and kegs of German beer will be available for
everybody’s consumption.
There
will also be live musical performances in the evenings,
Kaycee said, to this event that is also supported by
Linens International, Sphairon, Hamburg Trading and
Siemens. |
