By Jenny Ortuoste

POLICE were yet to gain some lead in the stabbing of 11 racehorses in Carmona, Cavite, on Jan. 18, even as the horses? owner yesterday feared the attack could happen again.

?We don?t know who [did it], or if and when it will happen again,? said Tarlac Rep. Jeci Aquino Lapus, younger brother of Education Secretary Jesli Lapus.

?This is the first incident of its kind. We have to be extra careful.?

On Sunday, an assailant stabbed 11 of Lapus? racehorses at the Manila Jockey Club?s San Lazaro Leisure Park, including one that ranked ninth last year with P9.22 million in prize money earnings.

Police said the attacker could have been drunk or high on drugs when he stabbed the horses around 1 or 2 a.m. at a holding paddock on Sunday, adding there could have been as many as four assailants.

The horses were stabbed on the head, shoulders and ribs, and the attack was discovered only around 4 a.m. of the same day.

A veterinarian said the weapon used on the horses appeared to have been a sharpened strip of metal with electrical tape wound around it serving as a handle.

Police were still to establish a motive for the stabbings. But they said Monday that the attacker or attackers appeared to be right-handed.

?None has died yet, but one or two are serious,? Lapus said in a text message on Monday.

?This was done by heartless individuals, whoever they are.?

Three veterinarians are now caring for the horses, and one of them said yesterday they were recovering.

?Some of the wounds have contracted, and bandages are no longer required,? Dan Arreola said.

Lapus, a horseowner since 1970, said he would rest his injured horses for several months to recover, but would continue to race his other horses. The 11 injured aside, he has 14 other horses in Carmona and eight more stabled at the Philippine Racing Club?s New Santa Ana Park in Naic, Cavite.

?I am now finishing our stables here in Naic to transfer the horses,? said Gigi Dacanay, Lapus? head groom.

Club chairman Alfonso Reyno Jr. said Lapus? horses were in a holding area in Carmona because they had been transferred there in a hurry from the old Santa Ana Park in Makati, which shut down last year to move to Naic this month.

?I received an urgent request from the congressman [Lapus] to accommodate his horses,? Reyno said.

?But since there were no more vacant stables and 100 were still under construction, management allowed him to temporarily use 20 of the stalls in the 40-stall holding paddock.?

Reyno said a security guard and a roving patrol were on duty at the time the horses were attacked. He said he had forbidden the club?s 500 grooms to drink to prevent trouble.

?It boggles me,? he said.

?Why would anyone inflict pain on horses? This is the puzzle the industry is seeking an answer to.?

Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo, Manila Rep. Amado Bagatsing, Mandaluyong Mayor Benhur Abalos, and businessmen Henry Cojuangco and Herminio Esguerra sympathized with Lapus.

But Lapus said he was ?sad that there was no offer of assistance from [the club] for additional security, not even a simple sympathy note.?