Pork's Park

Just flew in from Davao, where I spent the day touring a huge estate in the foothills of Mt. Apo. The owner started accumulating the 220-hectare Apo property in the '60's, after having started out in the piggery business.

His close friend, Col. Joseph McMicking, who developed Forbes Park in Makati to become the premier residential area in the country today, suggested that he call his piggery Pork's Park, and indeed, it was known by that name for a long time.

This house is the family's "Malayan House," still the center of their day-to-day activities on the estate. It's a unique design, with the roosters on the roof truly giving it a Malay flair.

Now in his 90's, the owner has always been a well known horse aficionado. His first big winner was a horse named Empire Joy, who won on his wedding day. Fifty years later, on the couple's golden wedding anniversary, another of his horses won, coincidentally also named Empire Joy.

These four five-month-old chestnuts come from a stud whose lineage can be traced to A.P. Indy, who won Belmont and was sired by Seattle Slew, the Triple Crown winner, who in turn was sired from perhaps the most famous Triple Crown winner of all, Secretariat. Amazingly, all four share the same white markings on their foreheads, although all come from different mares. Watch out for these four in the local horse-racing news in the months to come.