The Stud Book Authority of the Philippines (SBAP), the international name carried by the Stud Book Registry Division (SBRD), under the Philippine Racing Commission, celebrates its 23rd year of having an “approved“ status and recognition of the Philippine Stud Book by the International Stud Book Committee (ISBC) since October 10, 1996.

The Philippine Stud Book (PSB) containing the pedigree of all Thoroughbred horses in the country is regularly published every four years by the SBRD. During the intervening years the Annual Foal Crops are published with the pedigrees of registered Thoroughbred broodmares, stallions and their progenies that are still unnamed as foals. These foals will then be registered with names in the next volume of publication. The upcoming PSB Volume VII, will contain the breeding activities from the years 2015 to 2018. The records are being carefully collated and reviewed to preserve the integrity of the pedigree by the staff of the SBRD: Dr. Armando C. Escalante, Dr. Ena R. Masigon, Dr. Gloria A. Sagun and Mr. Vicente A. Brillantes, currently headed by Dr. Alejandro C. Cambay, Jr. and guided by Dr. Romeo F. Buencamino, The Philippine Stud Book Keeper. The data are judiciously gathered from the submitted documents like Monthly Covering Reports, Foaling Slips, Annual Stallion Reports (ASR) and Stud Book Returns (SBR).

Before a foal or a racehorse is registered, it will undergo the DNA Testing and Parentage Validation Program, wherein hair samples are carefully collected by SBRD Veterinarians from the mane or tail of the reported broodmares and stallions to which the foals are validated. The hair (20-30) strands should have the hair follicles intact to preserve the protein rich Deoxyribonucleic Acid or DNA that is passed to the foal by both parents (broodmare and stallion). These are sealed in individual envelopes in Horse DNA Submission Form provided by the International Society for Animal Genetics (ISAG) Accredited DNA Laboratory. For the SBAP, the Veterinary Genetics Laboratory (VGL) in University of California, Davis, USA has been analyzing the samples since 2006 after shifting from Blood-typing and Parentage Validation Program. Parentage are then assured with results “both parents qualified” before they are accepted, registered and included in the publication.

The staff of the SBRD still looks back with great appreciation of the history and origin of the Division previously headed by Dr. Jose Noel C. Danao, the Stud Book Registrar. The milestones achieved by the SBRD are now recognized being a former Division of the National Stud Farm (NSF) under the Office of the President led then by Director Reynaldo G. Fernando (who also became one of the Commissioners of PHILRACOM) followed by its last Director Dalmacio A. Tibay, the National Stud Farm became globally known as the Stud Book Authority of the Philippines. The SBRD or SBAP experienced two transfers from the Bureau of Animal Industry, Department of Agriculture in 2001 and to its home and present agency under the Office of the President, the Philippine Racing Commission in January 2004.

With a rich history of horse racing and the progress of the breeding industry, everyone is optimistic that the Philippines could breed more champion racehorses that can eventually compete in international horse racing events. We have level up in every way, by becoming a new member of the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA) in 2016 and with the continuous relationship of the SBAP with the Asian and Oceanian Stud Book Committee (AOSBC), the Asian counterpart of the ISBC we can make our dreams a reality.

YES! THE PHILIPPINES CAN! ONWARDS SBAP TO OUR SILVER AND GOLDEN YEARS! MABUHAY!