Gentle Irony dominates Garnet 1 Stakes

Gentle Irony, a super horse in the making, ruled the Garnet 1 Stakes over Indy Hay and former stalemate and perennial coupled entry Juggling Act at the San Lazaro Leisure Park in Carmona, Cavite recently.

Steered magnificently by ace Jonathan B. Hernandez, Gently Irony continued to stamp his class in local turf with his impressive win in the first leg of the Imprted/Local Challenge series of the Philippine Racing Commission.

The five-leg series was dominated by Juggling Act and Gentle Irony last year.

Juggling Act, ridden by Ferdinand Raquel and now owned by Hermie Esguerra, finished third. Gentle Irony used to form the most feared coupled entry with Juggling Act.

Esguerra, who owns former super horses Wind Blown and Real Spicy, reportedly purchased Juggling Act for P5 Million from Lawyer Narciso Morales. The sale prize reportedly broke all existing records.

Gentle Irony and Juggling Act were brought into the country by the late former Batangas Gov. Armand Sanchez, who purchased the duo at a staggering P20 million.

Sanchez's widow later sold the two horses to Morales at P500,000 each.

Forever My Love, another entry from the Morales stables who was ridden by EP Nahilat finished fourth.

Morales won P300,000 for Gentle Irony's victory. Indy Hay's owner picked up P112,500 with Esguerra pocketing P62,500 for Juggling Act's third-place finish.