Venezuelan surnames Vilagut or Abilahoud/Abi-Lahoud? We all played horse races 5 and 6 in La Rinconada Hippodrome.

 

Horse racing has a long and distinguished history and has been practiced in civilizations across the world since ancient times.

 

Vilagut or Abilahoud? Alfredo Abilahoud Cup 1990, https://youtu.be/bkMXvTTxwyc. The Abilahoud family arrived in Venezuela from his native Lebanon at the beginning of the 20th century.  A member of the Lebanese Alliance of Caracas in 1927 was José Miguel Abilahoud; Undersecretary.  

 

Alfredo Abilahoud, columnist and part owner of the Caracas opposition daily La Razon, was one of the most outstanding figures of the sport of kings, of which he remained for more than thirty years, in addition to his affable and cordial character with which he earned the appreciation of all the people who knew him in life. He was the eldest of nine siblings. From a very young age he felt a great fondness for the spectacle of horse racing and thus joined the list of owners at the age of twenty.   Countries with the most Abilahoud/Abi-Lahoud (Arabic: لحود) in the world: Lebanon, Venezuela, the United States, Brazil, and Canada. 

 

Baduy Miguel was born in 1883 in Arbet, Zgharta Zawie he married Zaida Bunima.  They had the following children:          

          i.     Alfredo  (b.1911 Caracas)
          ii.     Victoria  (b.1915 Caracas)
          iii.     Miguel Baduy (b.1923 Caracas)

          iv.     Elias (b.1924 Caracas)
          v.     Abraham Eduardo  (b.1925 Caracas)
          vi.     Alberto  (b.1926 Caracas)
          vii.     Abraham Ramón  (b.1930 Caracas)
          viii.     Gloria (b.1932 Caracas)
          ix.     A. Guillermo  (b.1936 Caracas), and
          x.     A. Humberto (b.1938 Caracas).  Abi is used as a family name or surname in Turkish languages (Salim Abi Saab-Soto).   Lahoud (Arabic: لحود) is the surname of a Maronite Lebanese family whose members have been prominent in Lebanese politics. A part of the Daou families, they allegedly trace their origin back to Ghassanids.  Émile Jamil Lahoud (born 12 January 1936) is a Lebanese politician who served as the 16th president of Lebanon from 1998 to 2007. His main foreign-policy achievement was to end the Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon in May 2000, which had been occupied since 1982. He downplayed sectarianism and rearmed the Lebanese army, with help from Syria. However, factionalism and Lebanon's politics undermined his strength.

 

The Vilagut-Martin family arrived in Caracas from Bolivia. On July 12, 1931, María Teresa Vilagut Martín, the fourth daughter of Julio and Consuelo, was born in Caracas. Vilagut or Abilahoud? We all played horse races 5 and 6. Countries with the most Vilagut in the world Venezuela, Spain, Argentinian, the United States, Canada, Bolivian, Costa Rica, Brazil, and England.  On Oct 03 1925, when Julio was 26, he married Consuelo Martín.  They had the following children:
          i.     Julio  (b.1926 Bolivian - 2017)
          ii.     Adelia  (1927 Bolivian - 2013)
          iii.     Antonio  (1928 Bolivian - 2009)
          iv.     Maria T  (1931 Caracas - 2017), and
          v.     Emilio  (1935 Madrid - 2016), Miquel Vilagut-Planas's great grandson is Emilio Vilagut-Martin.  Both families,  Abilahoud, and Vilagut love horses: Sol i Terra Equestrian Club in Collserola Natural Park.  Club Hipic Sol i Terra, is a family equestrian founded in 1998 and has large facilities for horse riding and the enjoyment of horses in a natural environment in Molins de Rei, of the province of Barcelona, in Catalonia.

 

Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys or sometimes driven without riders over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic premise – to identify which of two or more horses is the fastest over a set course or distance – has been mostly unchanged since at least classical antiquity.

 

In 1939 the first transmissions of horse races in Venezuela were made over the radio, when the narrator Eloy Pérez Alfonso (Mister Chips) associated with ARS Publicidad, described the details of the equestrian days through Radio Caracas with his program "Torneo Equestrian”. 

 

History of Venezuelan equestrian anecdotes, 2000 m., from the YEAR 1943 WINNER ROBBY, FATHER-MOTHER, Alan Breck-Rossy Princess (Arg), https://www.anecdotashipicas.net/Historial/LaRinconada/JOCKEY_CLUB_VENEZUELA.htm.  

 

On December 16, 1944, Alfredo Abilahoud founded, along with a group of owners, the Horse Owners Association, where he was President for several years. For those years he started a modality unknown in our environment in relation to the import and sale of thoroughbreds: Las Pollas. Thus, for many years the "Polla Alfredo Abilahoud" was disputed with very attractive prizes since Don Alfredo added part of the profits obtained from the sale of the products to the percentage assigned by the racetrack. He was also a member of the Board of Directors of El Paraíso National Racetrack in 1956, 57, and 58.

 

In 1951, the young Virgilio Decán, from Bolívar State and who would be nicknamed "Aly Khan", is part of the program, standing out for his style of narration in which he named each and every one of the participants during the description of the competition.   

 

The La Rinconada Hippodrome, reaching its 64th anniversary, is also the main horse racing track in Venezuela, located south of Caracas in the Coche Parish of the Libertador Municipality. Its history begins in 1952, when there were plans to build a new and modern equestrian center, since the old "El Paraíso" racetrack had exceeded its capacity.

 

In 1954, Radio Caracas Televisión included races in its programming with the narration and comments of Mr. Chips himself, Luis Placido Pisarello, and Carlos León Garrido "Alejo Caminos".

 

There are many types of horse racing, including Flat racing, where horses gallop directly between two points around a straight or oval track. Jump racing, or Jumps racing, also known as Steeplechasing or, in the UK and Ireland, National Hunt racing, where horses race over obstacles. Harness racing, where horses trot or pace while pulling a driver in a sulky.  Saddle Trotting, where horses must trot from a starting point to a finishing point under saddle.  Endurance racing, where horses travel across the country over extreme distances, generally ranging from 25 to 100 miles (40 to 161 km). Anything less than 25 miles qualifies as a limited-distance ride. 

 

San José, Costa Rica, February 5th, 2023, rafaelvilagut@gmail.com Rafael A. Vilagut-Vega, is an engineer and magister, and since recent years historian, writer, and professional genealogist.