Wind Blown posts runaway victory

Wind Blown took it easy during the early stages of the race then unleashed a big burst of speed coming out of the far turn to post a runaway victory in the Philracom-PRCI Independence Day stakes race at the Santa Ana Park yesterday.

With regular jockey Fernando Raquel in full control, Wind Blown stayed behind leaders Batangas Entry and Staunch Ally until the backstretch before making his move and swept past the three other contenders for the P400,000 top prize.

Staunch Ally eventually finished second five lengths behind and was followed by Batangas Entry and Sunny Contender. Wind Blown, which garnered P894,348 out of the total sales of over P1.3 million, won the 1,600-m race with a time of 1:40.1 (24-25-23'-28).

Raquel, one of the finest jockeys around, actually scored a double kill as he earlier steered Sheba’s Dream to a wire-to-wire victory in the Terribly True imported stakes race which had a guaranteed prize of P300,000.

Jade Louise, ridden by Pat Dilema, came in second behind Sheba’s Dream and was followed by Astuce, Cat’s Bells and Baby Lite. Sheba’s Dream won the 1,450-m race with a time of 1:31.4. — Ramon Romualdez