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#Benhur Abalos

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Profile: Benhur Abalos of Tiger Horse Farm — How a Former DILG Secretary Built a 20-Year Breeding Vertical in Philippine Racing

Benhur Abalos Jr., who runs Tiger Horse Farm in Lipa, Batangas, is a lawyer and politician who served five terms as mayor of Mandaluyong and as Secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) from 2022 to 2024 — a UN Public Service Award recipient. Alongside that career, he entered racing in 2004 and has built one of the Philippines' top breeding operations over 20 years: Hagdang Bato's Triple Crown sweep in 2012 (the first in 11 years), Batang Manda's 52nd Presidential Gold Cup in 2024, and now Primavera and Gentle Dance winning on the same weekend at the new Padre Garcia Racetrack in 2026. A clean case of a long breeder vertical bridging Philippine racing's old-venue and new-venue eras.

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Field Report: Primavera Wins Three Straight at Padre Garcia, Rating +17 — Surface-Affinity Data Is Stacking Up at the New Track, and Tiger Horse Farm's Vertical Holds

The 5yo filly Primavera won the Chairman's Cup II (2,000m) at the new Padre Garcia Racetrack by 5 lengths. The more interesting structure is that, after a 7th-place beating on debut, she rattled off three straight to push her Philracom rating from 48 to 65 (+17). Her breeder is Tiger Horse Farm of Benhur Abalos Jr. (the breeder of 2012 Triple Crown winner Hagdang Bato). Read alongside Primavera, Circus Crowd, and Isa Bell — all horses with multiple wins on the same surface — the new track's surface predictability is starting to show as early data.