NOW you know why Giovani Segura scored 11 knockouts in the first round: He would barrel his way into enemy territory right at the sound of the opening bell with all guns ablaze. He did that again on Decem­ber 11 at the Ynares Center in Pasig City. Alas, he was unsuccessful. Brian Viloria was prepared for the blitzkrieg, using an axe-like left hook with chilling consistency to earn a much-deserved 8th-round TKO win over the Mexican monikered “The Aztec Warrior.”

Showing no signs of intimida­tion in view of Segura’s impres­sive 28-1-1, win-loss-draw record, with 24 knockouts, the Narvacan, Ilocos Sur-born Viloria fought with ferocious focus on a lethal left hook that would soon trans­form the Mexican’s face into a grotesque ET prototype.

Referee Samuel Viruet of New York, seeing Segura’s right face and eye swollen bizarrely that even the Mexican’s right ear had now appeared like a rabbit’s, halt­ed the fight just seconds into the eighth round when Viloria stag­gered Segura with yet another telling left hook.

The victory, Viloria’s 17th KO win for a 30-3 mark, validated Brian’s grip of the WBO world fly­weight crown (112 lb) that he cap­tured from Julius Cesar Miranda, another Mexican, only last July. Here’s a glass to Viloria, the famed “Hawaiian Punch,” for a job well done. I believe Viloria will reign for long, given his talent.
********

I am glad that this early, the National Golf Association of the Philippines (NGAP) headed by my primo, Larry Mendoza, has ear­marked Feb. 7-12 as next year’s date of staging the Philippine
Open at Wack Wack.

Sponsored by Ricky Razon’s ICTSI, the Open, Asia’s oldest professional golf event that was born in 1913, will stake $300,000 as part again of the Asian Tour with the NGAP as the co-sanc­tioning body.
Matters had been simplified when the Asian Tour officials headed by Kyi La Han gave NGAP $20,000 to sort of “buy the right” to manage the staging of the ICT­SI Philippine Open. That would free the NGAP of any Open-re­lated headache that may arise before, during and even after the tournament.
If you ask me, fair enough.
**********

THE just-ended 62nd Fil-Am Invitational Golf Tournament in Baguio City’s Baguio Country Club and Camp John Hay pro­duced incidents both bad and beautiful, triggering lessons to be used when the Tournament Com­mittee assesses its directions for next year’s edition of the fabled event.

“Definitely, our lessons this year ought to give us durable di­rections when we chart the 63rd Fil-Am golf next year,” said Shin Paul Chan, who was finally given a free rein as the event’s Tourna­ment cochairman this year with Steve McDonald of John Hay upon the imprimatur of Baguio Country Club general manager Anthony de Leon. “That’s why we are always dynamic because we are willing to reinvent ourselves in keeping with the legacy of the Fil­Am as a world-beater.”

No sooner than the tourna­ment’s last putt was dropped on Saturday that Committee mem­bers Shean Bedi, Ely Lagman, Freddie Mendoza and Atty. Luis “Louie” Sison resolved to hold an assessment in a bid to further im­prove the running of the tourna­ment, the world’s biggest on the planet according to the Guinness Book of World Record.
Indeed, among perfectionists, quality has no price.
Go for it, fellers!
********

‘Humble Riches’ robbed of victory worth P1.5 million in horseracing I thought horseracing rules were as fair as ever. But how come the result in the PhilracomJuvenile Championship on December 11 was shrouded in mystery, if not bathed in scandal? “Humble Riches” had clearly won that race.
Yet, barely five minutes after “Humble Riches” had crossed the finish line first, “bayang karerista” was thrown in turmoil.
“Humble Riches” was dropped from first to second, and “Hag­dang Bato” elevated from second to first.
If that wasn’t racetrack robbery, then Fr. Suarez’s miraculous heal­ing power is a fluke.
I have watched the tapes of the race maybe a dozen times or more. I’d be as blind as An­drea Bocelli, if not Stevie Wonder or even Jose Feliciano, if I say “Humble Riches” didn’t win it fair and square.
But grotesquely, not in the eyes of the board of stewards of the Manila Jockey Club, Inc. com­posed of Chairman Rogelio A. Tadiama and members Virgilio M. Figueroa Jr. and Vicente Jesus C. Villanueva, who annulled “Hum­ble Riches’” victory based on the flimsiest of reasons: “jostling.”

Bizarrely, a “telecom” con­versation between one of the three stewards and the jockeys of “Humble Riches” (Val Dilema) and “Hagdang Bato” (Jonathan Hernandez) became the chief ba­ sis to make “Hagdang Bato” the winner.
At the stables after the jockeys had brought their horses after the race, Hernandez received a call.
“What happened there? Why the collision between you and Dilema?” came the query from the steward.
Under the rules, it is customary for stewards to inquire if they feel something went wrong during a race.
“Yes, if Dilema did not collide with me, I would have won the race,” was Hernandez’s reply.
The steward next talked to Dilema, also via “telecom,” and he asked the jockey, “Why did you bump Hernandez?”
Dilema replied, “I did not inten­tionally do it. If I did, I would have been thrown off my mount and, maybe, my horse would have suffered a spill as we were rac­ing at almost breakneck speed. His horse is much bigger than mine.”

“Humble Riches” was at the homestretch turn in full throttle inside and “Hagdang Bato” was coming in from the outside. They collided a bit. But because they were still a good 300 meters away from the finish line, it could not, would not, have caused the de­feat of “Hagdang Bato.”

There was a bump, all right, but, surely, “Humble Riches” was not guilty of “jostling.” The bump was clearly one of those things that can’t be usually avoided in the heat of a race.
After the “inquiry,” the decision dropping “Humble Riches” from first to second came thunder­ing in the race track to the utter shock of the crowd. Simple logic would tell us Dilema could not have commit­ted “jostling” as the stewards had termed it.

To begin with, “Humble Riches” had previously won all her seven races, certainly making her a cer­tified genuine champ. By depriv­ing “Humble Riches” of her much-deserved win in the Juvenile, the two-year-old filly lost a perfect 8-0 start since she first won on June 26, 2011 in the Maiden Race.
In winning the Juvenile, “Hum­ble Riches” humbled all her five male rivals owned by respected horse owners like Hermie Esguer­ra, Jun Almeda, Sandy Javier (2 entries) and, yes, Mayor Benhur Abalos (“Hagdang Bato”).
Kenneth Causon, the humble owner of “Humble Riches,” has appealed the stewards’ decision and his prayer, through his lawyer Edmundo R. Calo, is pending at the office of Angel L. Castano Jr., the much-respected chairman of the Philippine Racing Commis­sion.

Not for anything, but I do miss the glory days of horseracing when the late, lamented Leo Pri­eto was at the helm of things, and Boss Danding Cojuangco was still very much active in the industry. Unsullied almost was the reputa­tion of everyone in the business, including the late, likewise, la­mented Rudy Salud (who would become my beloved compadre), then the legal counsel of MJCI.
The winner’s purse in the Ju­venile is P1.5 million but that’s al­most immaterial now as, humbly, “Humble Riches” won P1.8 mil­lion in topping a previous race, the Philtobo, on December 4.
Yes, it would have been nice to see “Humble Riches” capture the Juvenile and score a back-to-back million-peso victory, which is a rarity in these trying times.
Alas, the stewards on Decem­ber 11 had other things in mind in deciding to deflect a monumental feat. Unthinkable.