ASLAN : CANON GOLD CUP VIDEO AND RESULT

Click above to watch Aslan winning the Canon Gold Cup (Gr1)…
(Image : Gold Circle - Footage : Tellytrack)

CANON GOLD CUP (Grade 1)
Greyville, Turf, 3200m
31 July 2011

Final Result

#	LBH	Horse	Kg	MR	Dr	Jockey	Trainer
1	0.00	ASLAN	57.5	99	18	G Lerena	Sean Tarry
2	0.50	KOLKATA	52.0	85	16	R Danielson	Sean Tarry
3	1.25	KNIGHT TO REMEMBER	53.5	89	6	R Fradd	Duncan Howells
4	1.50	IL SANPIETRO (BRZ)	58.5	103	17	A Delpech	Mike de Kock
5	3.25	JEPPE’S REEF	52.0	89	4	M Byleveld	Mike Bass
6	5.50	DOLOMITE	53.5	89	14	R Simons	Kumaran Naidoo
7	5.75	IN WRITING (ARG)	58.5	103	8	K Neisius	Dean Kannemeyer
8	7.25	SAFWAN (AUS)	58.5	103	2	K Shea	Mike de Kock
9	8.00	CAPTAIN’S WILD	60.0	108	19	I Sturgeon	Mike de Kock
10	8.25	HAWK’S EYE (GB)	57.0	98	11	G Hatt	Joey Ramsden
11	10.75	PREDESTINATION (AUS)	55.0	92	15	A Marcus	Joey Ramsden
12	11.25	KEY CASTLE	56.0	95	12	* A Andrews	Jacques Strydom
13	11.50	POWER LORD	54.5	92	1	S Brown	David Rahilly
14	16.75	DANCE AT DAYLIGHT	56.0	95	5	A Forbes	Dennis Drier
15	19.00	SALUKI (GB)	56.0	95	7	G Schlechter	Stephen Page
16	23.50	GOLDEN PARACHUTE (NZ)	55.5	93	10	A Domeyer	Mike Bass
17	24.75	ARCOLA	57.5	100	9	P Strydom	Weiho Marwing
18	34.25	TWO STRIKES	57.0	98	3	F Coetzee	Stephen Page
19	99.99	LORENZO MARQUES	52.0	86	13	G Cheyne	Justin Snaith
		Late Scratchings
20	0.00	GREY COSSACK	54.5	91	7	R Fourie	Carl Burger

ALBERTON'S FINEST BOYKIE... MIKE DE KOCK

Mike de Kock - Racehorse Trainer Extraordinaire
(Photo : Emirates Racing Authority/Mike de Kock Racing)

“…likely to have five or six of the
Durban July final 20”

Mike Moon
The TimesThis country has a gift for producing outstanding individuals in many fields - thoroughbred racing included. 

The list of homegrown superstars includes Mike de Kock - racehorse trainer extraordinaire, respected wherever hooves thunder.

We know all about De Kock’s feats abroad, burnishing the name of South African thoroughbred racing and breeding wherever he goes. No trainer in the world ranges as fearlessly.

But it’s at home that he’s displaying supremacy at the moment.

At Clairwood last weekend, De Kock saddled the winners of three of the five graded races on the card. He had a fourth trophy denied by a boardroom ruling on in-running interference, and was not far off in the fifth big one.

This tour de force capped a recent golden run, including the Canon Gold Cup the week before - when he sent out Ancestral Fore to overturn decades of precedent and sling dung in the faces of “experts” who said a three-year-old couldn’t prevail in the marathon. Yuck, spit.

Big Mike’s stake earnings for the season are approaching R19-million. That’s R2-million more than the season record - and there are three weeks of the term still to run.

It culminates in the Durban July on July 31, and who would bet against our hero scooping that too. He trains 11 of the 51 horses entered for the race, and is likely to have five or six of the final field of 20 - including favourite Irish Flame.

Mike de Kock grew up in Alberton in the 1970s and ’80s, alongside the old Newmarket racecourse, and fell in love with horses and racing at an early age while gazing over fences at the wondrous beasts as they trained and raced.

A school friendship with David Ferraris, son of Ormond - a training legend - led to a job as a stable hand.

By December 1988, De Kock was a full assistant trainer with Ricky Howard-Ginsberg. When his boss died suddenly of a heart attack, the yard’s leading patrons agreed to let the promising youngster take the reins.

The rest is history. After proving to be reasonably good at his job, in 1995 De Kock got a phone call from Bridget Oppenheimer, offering him horses to train. Figuring this was a prank call, he sarcastically brushed off the well-spoken woman and hung up.

An amused Mrs O got her stud man-ager to call the brash southern suburbs boykie. A swift apology to the grand lady of the turf proved to be a launching pad to propel De Kock to the heights of international racing.

For one early Oppenheimer arrival at the De Kock yard was a colt destined to become South Africa’s best racehorse of all time : Horse Chestnut.

ANCESTRAL FORE : CANON GOLD CUP VIDEO AND RESULTS

Click above to watch the 2010 Canon Gold Cup (Gr1)
(Photo : Gold Circle - Footage : Tellytrack)

R1,200,000 CANON GOLD CUP (Grade 1)
Greyville, 3200m, Turf
26 June 2010

RACE RESULT :

#	LBH	Horse	Kg	MR	Dr	Jockey	Trainer
1	0.00	ANCESTRAL FORE	56.0	108	12	K Shea	Mike de Kock
2	2.00	VERTICAL TAKEOFF	56.0	101	8	P Strydom	Sean Tarry
3	4.25	PREDESTINATION (AUS)	52.0	89	10	K Teetan	Joey Ramsden
4	6.75	THANKS JOHN	55.0	98	18	M Byleveld	Mike Bass
5	7.50	SANGRIA GIRL	55.5	98	4	R Danielson	Greg Ennion
6	7.60	HOSPITALITY	53.5	93	19	F Coetzee	Mike Stewart
7	7.85	SANTA	57.5	105	5	A Marcus	Ormond Ferraris
8	7.90	REFINED IN FIRE	54.5	96	7	P Whitmore	Yvette Bremner
9	8.00	SPEED FOR GOLD	56.0	100	6	A Forbes	Dennis Drier
10	8.50	ROBINSON CRUSOE	55.5	99	11	I Sturgeon	Glen Kotzen
11	8.55	BOLD WONDER (AUS)	54.5	96	13	S Randolph	Duncan Howells
12	8.65	OMAHA BEACH	57.5	105	16	B Fayd’Herbe	Joey Ramsden
13	9.90	GOLDEN PARACHUTE (NZ)	55.5	99	9	K Neisius	Mike Bass
14	10.65	WINNING LEAP	55.5	106	14	B Lerena	Dominic Zaki
15	11.15	MOKARO	60.0	112	17	R Fourie	Stephen Page
16	13.40	LA FOCE	52.5	91	3	A Delpech	Mike de Kock
17	14.65	STARZENE (USA)	55.5	99	20	G Lerena	Weiho Marwing
18	14.90	SPORTS FACTOR	52.0	89	15	*J Jordaan	Paul Lafferty
19	26.15	RECONCILE	52.0	88	2	D Daniels	Glen Kotzen
20	46.65	STRATEGIC NEWS (AUS)	57.0	103	1	J Gerousis	Herman Brown

WINNING LEAP RARING TO GO

Winning Leap
(Photo : JC Photographics / Summerhill Stud)

CANON GOLD CUP (Grade 1)
26 June 2010

A chat with trainer Dominic Zaki early this morning, revealed that our Gold Cup aspirant, Winning Leap, has travelled well, and is ensconced at his Summerveld stables, from where he will launch his assault tomorrow.

Dominic says there’s only one “stopper”, as far he’s concerned, and that is his 21 points in penalties that he’s picked up for his last two striking victories. Winning Leap has grown to almost 17 hands, he’s stays all day, and Dominic says his acceleration grows as he matures.

“He’ll be a formidable four year old, and I have unending faith in the challenge of the progeny of Labeeb”.

The circumstances of the purchase of his grandmother, Karafa, from His Highness the Aga Khan, were amusing. Mick Goss, elder brother Pat and erstwhile Summerhill general manager, Anton Procter, were attending the Tattersall’s December Sales in England in the mid 80’s, and they had devised a secret code for their agent, the late and famed Joss Collins, whereby Joss would keep bidding for as long as Pat kept his deerstalker hat on his head. Understand, it was mid-winter in the UK, snowing and hats were imperative.

When the bidding approached the 80,000 Guineas mark (around a R1 million today, and already well beyond where Summerhill normally shops), Pat, who for all intents and purposes was the trio’s banker, decided to call it enough, and raised his hand to remove the deerstalker.

The mare, however, was descended from the most famous of Aga Khan’s family’s, the one which produced the legendary stallion Nasrullah, Royal Charger and Kalamoun, and Mick and Anton would have none of this stopping. To the complete bewilderment of the auctioneer, they thrust their hands on Pats head to keep the deerstalker in place, so that Collins would not give up the pursuit.

“Was that a bid, sir?” enquired the auctioneer, and Mick Goss was quick to reply “and how, sir”, and so, at a 100,000 guineas, Summerhill became the proud owner of this wonderfully bred mare. The brothers proceeded to breed an Italian 2000 Guineas winner from the mare, before her importation to South Africa, and while the family’s been a little slow in getting going here, Summersault, dam of the Gold Cup fancy, has shown signs of a serious revival. Victory in tomorrow’s time-honoured event, could signal its greatest moment in South Africa.

NOT CALLED THE GOLD CUP FOR NOTHING

1945 Owners Gold Cup Trophy
(Photo : Summerhill Stud Archives) 

THE CANON GOLD CUP (Gr 1)
Greyville, 3200m, 26 June 2010

KZN racing authorities can say what they like about the big three of their “Championship Season”, but there’s no doubt that after the “July”, the Canon Gold Cup is a clear second. In fact, if you’re speaking of betting turnover, its one of the nation’s big three. Judged purely by prize money, it’s eclipsed by the July, the Met and the Summer Cup, but as an attractor of people and a generator of turnover, it gives best only to the first two.

As a crowd-pleaser, you might well argue that the glamour events are also those sponsored by Vodacom and J&B, but for sheer elegance and a sense of occasion, you’d probably give first prize to the Gold Cup, though it now faces stern competition from the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate and the Emperors Palace Ready To Run Cup.

One thing you can’t take away from the Gold Cup is tradition. Its being run for the 90^th occasion this Saturday, and there was a time when every self respecting trainer took the compelling leap from the Durban July to the Gold Cup. That was then of course, and this is now, and the difference between those days and these, lies mainly in the trophy.

Some years ago, Sotheby’s auctioned the 1945 Owner’s Gold Cup trophy won by Hartford’s Salmon, and since its rightful home was here at Summerhill (which incorporates Hartford these days), we felt we had to buy it. So prized were these pure gold trophies and so magnificent the craftsmanship, we had to venture a king’s ransom in order to bring it home.

That’s what people were racing for in those days, and it was the knowledge that there were just a handful of these left in the vaults of the Durban Turf Club, which led us to propose to our old friend Alec Foster back in the 90’s, that we try to breed a Gold Cup winner. Being the sportsman that he is, Alec proceeded to do just that, the fruits of his endeavours being Cereus’ cruise in the 2002 renewal.

In all, we bred four horses with that in mind, one of them a nine time winner at distances up to a mile (we obviously read his pedigree wrong), one a Champion Three Year Old filly of her year and a dual Oaks winner, Icy Air (the recipe was right there,) and the other one damn near did it again. He was Amphitheatre, whose stirring victory in the Gold Vase (Gr.2) on the eve of the race cost him a 2kg penalty, which in the end cost him the Gold Cup as well, as he went down a neck in the dying strides to Highland Night.

The honour roll of previous Gold Cups is replete with great names of South African racing, not the least of whom is Charlie Barends, who won just one July with Extinguisher, but who made the Gold Cup his own with seven exceptional victories, the first of which was aboard Chez Monty, the first horse (and the only one) to win two consecutive renewals.

Summerhill and Hartford have a distinguished record in the race. No property has produced more than three winners outside of ours, which has strung together a total of five all told, commencing with Salmon, Cosmonaut, and Alhambra, and in modern times Cereus and the Champion Stayer of two seasons ago, Desert Links.

So, we have the pedigree to produce another one, and going with Winning Leap is a little like picking Brazil to win the World Cup. That means he’s a fair bet, and at 5-1 a fairly generous one. The bookmakers would be wise to think again if their reasoning has to do with history. No three-year-old has ever been to the winner’s podium before, but it doesn’t mean it can’t be done now.

There are enough examples in Australian racing to suggest that a properly programmed horse can do it. The one thing we do have to remember though, with a marathon like this, is that while good horses can sometimes pick up Group One races on the way to their objectives, it doesn’t often happen in a gruelling competition like the Gold Cup. You need to fix your sights firmly on your target, and get your horse there at the top of his game, because the “A” game is the only one that will do.