To Be Or Not To Be A Jockey by Rick Y. Lopez

Racing Memories:

• The day jockey Jesus Guce won his first ride on top of horse Short Circuit; the next race was Cool Town (I guess) and he won five rides on that Saturday morning.
• The likes of jockey Elias “Leleng” Ordiales considered “El Maestro”
• Jockey “Hataw” Fernando who whipped at average of 60 whips per minute, it seemed. He was just lucky that there was no ordinance against cruelty to animals yet. The moment the gates opened you could hear his whip go “whack, whack” unlike the moderate whipping that you hear now, for Jockey Fernando was really different.
• Jockey Wilfred, who became famous for his “monkey riding” on top of horse Top D’ World. As Tony Trinidad called the race, “It’s Top D’ World leading the pack by ten lengths with jockey Wilfredo in a monkey ride position on Top D’
• The beginning
• World…” That became a hit and other jockeys followed.
• Jockey Emeterio, the bravest and toughest. I was once watching over at the 15/16 mile post fence and saw him and Jockey Victor doing a neck-and-neck battle when someone grabbed Emeterio and tried to get off his feet from the stirrups and throw him off his mount. Emeterio was able to escape that and won the race. Nobody dared to go near him.
• Jockeys Pablito, Arturo, Macaraig, and Cresencio in their prime years - I remember winning bets every time these jockeys had rides.
• In some instances, jockeys held each others’ shoulders and tried to pull each other off before reaching the finish line.
• There was this jockey on top of horse Kahn Kaloo who was leading and tried to do some fancy riding and fell off - he was a new jockey.
• I even witnessed the actor Chiquito Pangan ride as a jockey. It was a comeback ride for him. I guess the racing management welcomed the idea to attract aficionados. He rode his own horses - Vilma’s Pet, Vilma’s Beauty - and they all won. He would carry 62kgs weight but still win.
• I also saw steel magnate Nicky Jacinto ride his horses and win, an instant first class jockey. All jockeys call him ‘Sir’ or ‘Boss’ and he always won his races. He won on top of horses Winged Heart, Royal Brandy, and Royal Scepter.
• Since I was just a kid at the time, I could sneak inside the VIP Room at Santa Ana Park. My dad knew Mr. Tos Reyes, the racetrack owner and owner of the famous Red Lion Stable; his star jockey was Rene Henson, I was also introduced to Mr. Reyes who even called Jockey Henson to train me to ride, but I asked my dad not to because I wanted to finished my studies. I was in 6^th grade and my lolo was against my riding.
• I remember winning with a dehado (longshot) horse. Mang Totoy Reyes had a horse called Cometa, who had come down from Group 17 to the last Group 24. That was the last double in Santa Ana, and the horse sold only less than a thousand pesos. The llamado (favorite), Forever My Love, with Jockey Rodrigo, was in stall number 14, and Cometa was next to him number 13. When the gates opened it was a scramble for positions, Rodrigo’s ride was ahead while Jockey Bert was with Cometa. We thanked Rodrigo for not closing on Bert’s ride till the first fifty meters in order to gain a good position.
• Before the race which Cometa won, I remember queuing up in front of small windows (bentanilla) to bet. From the pila (queue) you could already tell which horse was llamado, because you queued up according to the horse number you want to bet. The moment people saw someone betting alone on a dehado, they immediately spread the word. This time, no one paid attention to me since I was just a kid. I went to several windows and spread the bets at several bentanillas. Even my dad was at an off-track betting station. I had a stack of P2 tickets four inches thick. That’s how we hid Cometa’s sales. That was a great experience which I will never forget.