With only P4,000 worth of support from the public, Mario Yumang’s Heartening To See stole the thunder in the recent August edition of the 2023 Philracom 2YO Maiden Stakes at the Metro Manila Turf Club in Malvar, Batangas.

The longest shot in the five-horse field, a chestnut filly by Sakima out of Lemoniscious bred by the SC Stockfarm, held off the late charge of James Anthony Rabano’s Amor My Love (Low Profile-Arriba Amor) by less than a length at the wire to take home P720-thousand in prize-money.

This is the second time in as many Sundays that the partnership between trainer Christopher “Boyet” Guerra and jockey Peter John “Patar” Guce struck gold, last week with Badboy MJ in the Philracom 3YO Sprint.

Basically employing the same strategy used last week with Badboy MJ’s victory, Guce and his mount stayed within striking distance of the pace duel between Benhur Abalos’ top-pick Sonnet Forty Three (Ulitimate Goal-Facil Katana) and Feliciano de la Cruz’ Bravemansgame (Lemon Drop Title-Coloured Veil) while quite far behind her was Amor My Love with Upscale Bell (Sakima-Upscale Storm) at the tail-end.

It was only with 75m left that the eventual winner took the lead over the visibly tired Sonnet Forty Three and now wary of the fast approaching Amor My Love. But Amor My Love’s dash came a little too late and had to settle for second.

Salvaging third was Sonnet Forty Three with Bravemansgame coming in fourth.

The winner was such a longshot that the Trifecta with the combination 3-2-5 paid out P17,855 despite the lean field of five.

The 1200m event was clocked at 1:13.2 with fractions of 23′-23-27.