THE WINTER SCHOOL OF EXCELLENCE

Pat Goss with Cheryl and Mick Goss at the official inauguration of the
Bryan and Erica Goss Memorial Theatre and Hall of Fame
(Photo : Felicity Hayward)

BRYAN AND ERICA GOSS
MEMORIAL THEATRE AND HALL OF FAME

The opening day of our Winter School was big enough in itself, for its historic value. It was a sentimental moment for us, because it marked the official inauguration of the Bryan and Erica Goss Memorial Theatre and Hall of Fame, which Mick’s brother, Pat presided over. As both brothers said in their short addresses, the fruits of their parent’s labours could not have been better employed than by contributing towards this noble cause.

The inaugural lecture on Entrepreneurship and Family Business was delivered by Professor Justin Craig of Bond University in Australia. Not only is this a man who uniquely touches upon the things that affect most people’s business lives, but he is one of only a handful of authorities on the subject, and by the time his hour was up, we knew why. He’ll be back, and there is no-one outside of a multi-national who can afford to miss it.

Justin was followed by Mike de Kock and a panel headed by Dr. John McVeigh; Judge Alan Magid; past Jockey Club Chairman, Ronnie Napier and Jehan Malherbe. This was a rare opportunity to hear a rare man sharing his secrets, and the questions came thick and fast, overrunning his time by some measure. Mike shared with us all the things that’ve turned him into one of the most recognisable figures in international racing, as well as a comparison of his best horses, and what sparks their buying initiatives for their raids on the international circuits.He pointed to the differences between the styles of Ipi Tombe and his latest star, Igugu, whom he feels incidentally, he hasn’t yet quite got to the bottom of. The reason? He hasn’t had to, as she’s done it all herself, and he feels that she’ll not only make the normal weight-for-age improvement as she grows older, but there’s more where she comes from already.

Professor Brian Kantor was next up, and he demonstrated, as he has done so many times, why he became Professor Emeritus at Cape Town University’s Business School. A wonderfully vital personality with an infectious understanding of the markets, he took us through a range of topics from investments, the money markets, the world economy and what the likely scenarios were with the sovereign failures in Europe, and the local economy’s prospects for the year ahead. Those things can be a little mundane to the man in the street, but this Professor has mastered the art of entertainment, and he’ll be back to delight us again in the year ahead.

Jehan Malherbe pointed to the challenges which owners and breeders face in the present market, the latter in particular with the substantial sums they paid in service fees in the 2008 season, which has meant the sale of considerable numbers of horses this year at a loss on their production costs.  He did mention though, that this was a time of opportunity, as service fees had rationalised themselves substantially. The debate then centred on the fact that the UK and Ireland, Europe and America, had cut their foal crops by something approaching 33%, and that being the case, those with the foresight to cover their mares, would have the stock to replenish the world’s thoroughbred reserves in 2014.

Altus Joubert Senior Counsel is an incomparable speaker on a number of topics, but the one that animates him is the thoroughbred, and his story on the history of the South African racehorse before the Second World War, was quite riveting. We’d had a bit of a conscience, asking a man who makes his living from the time he spends with clients in his chambers, to prepare for a school of this sort, but all signs of conscience dissipated when we saw the pleasure he had in delivering this story. Like those that went before him, he promised to provide us with the rest of the story next time around, which would take us from those days to this. Let’s not forget though, that our forebears like Sir Abe Bailey (whose daughter married Winston Churchill’s son), tampered at one time with Candlemas, whose influence on the breed extends to the likes of Mr Prospector and Seattle Slew; that old man Henry Nourse ran the biggest stud in the world in the early 1900’s, and that the Birch Bros., the most successful of all South African Breeders, were born in this era as well.

We’ll give you the comments of our attendees tomorrow - you’ll know then, what you missed.

A FIRST TAKE ON KENTUCKY

Lexington, Kentucky, USA
(Photo : Donamire Horse Farm)

“THE BLUEGRASS STATE”

Alec Hogg
MoneywebEver since Pride and Prejudice, I’ve tried to stop forming opinions from first impressions. But after nearly a week in The Bluegrass State, it’s pretty clear that I’m smitten. If we were ever to be forced to live outside our beloved KZN Midlands, it would be be here in the horse capital of the world.

Even without South Africa’s six time Champion Breeder Mick Goss as our host, the trip would have been marvelous. But being able to visit North America’s greatest horse farms in the reflected affection heaped on him by his peers has made this an adventure of a lifetime.

It’s hard not to feel overwhelmed by a place where post and rail is standard. We saw tens of thousands of acres of rich Fescue pastures, the “bluegrass” that gives Kentucky its nickname, but not a strand of wire fencing. The buildings strike you as something out of an architectural digest - stallions are revered here, their barns styled like the farm stone and wooden homes and offices. Long avenues of leafy pin oaks, masterful horse art on the walls, statues of Seattle Slew, A.P. Indy, Secretariat… and stallion graveyards that beat any human version I’ve seen.

The place exudes old money. Certainly not the materialism you’d see from coarse, Wall Street  speculation. This is a world where the long-term rules, where everything spent is judged by a return on investment measured over decades, not months. Each door latch, every head collar, seems to have been selected on the basis of getting stuff that lasts, never mind that it costs more.

So, too, the stars of Kentucky. Although they’re virtually finished the breeding season, every stallion we saw – and there were dozens – was in prime condition. No falling away after covering 150 mares. Their grooms are knowledgeable, engaging and devoted. For them, caring for their charges is a prized career, not a stopgap.

What are the lessons to take home?

Perhaps it’s that the biggest thing holding back South African racing is a collective mindset that while not exactly encouraging it, certainly enables comfortable mediocrity.

The Kentucky experience shows the horse business, like any other, thrives on high standards. The benefit of intense competition and the virtuous circle of long-term investment delivering superior products is evident everywhere. Long may the Darley vs Coolmore contest continue. Similarly the practice by US billionaires redirecting cash from their construction or self-storage empires into blue bloods. Ditto continued success by from-the-ground horsemen like the Taylors whose experience, skill and sheer hard work provides its own edge.

South Africa has its Oppenheimers, Ruperts, Scotts, Rattrays and Joostes. It must also replace the departed Becks and Jaffees. And the sector would do well to attract more rich foreign investors like the Plattners and Jacobs’, further developing the goodwill of friends like American heavyweight Barry Irwin. This business needs far-sighted, deep-pocketed people who love the breed. Not just to inject their cash, but to sharpen the competitive instincts of self-made horsemen like Summerhill’s Goss and the prolific Koster family.

Another big learning is that lightning strikes in the most unlikely places. There are no absolutes in this game. Time and again we were shown top stallions who had started their careers as low priced coverers in relative backwaters. Some who were moderate on the track have been unbelievable in the shed. The South African tradition of gelding males as a matter of course must surely be re-looked. It’s the racehorses who make bloodlines, not the other way around.

The other lasting impression is how big an advantage South Africa enjoys through its well-regulated, drug-free regime. Everywhere in American breeding one hears grumbles about the lax medication standards. Horsemen bemoan the legal and hence liberal use of Lasix which ensures the passing on of inherited weaknesses like bleeding. It also masks potent pain-killing medication that overcomes physical defects which would severe restrict a horse’s career in jurisdiction like SA. This opaque influence means the US stallion business carries the kind of unnecessary risk that any logical investor would love to eliminate. 

Overall, I’ll be leaving Kentucky inspired and with renewed enthusiasm for this Sport of Kings. Confident that issues holding back the South African industry are not insurmountable. Indeed they are easily overcome in an atmosphere of trust, far-sightedness and collective will to do the right thing. We’ve given the world any number of great jockeys, Mike de Kock, Ipi Tombe, Jay Peg, Gypsy’s Warning and, indirectly, Pluck. But that should just be the start. How exciting to be part of an industry with such great potential.

Alec Hogg - Kentucky, USA

A VISIT WITH IPI TOMBE

      

IPI TOMBE
“Almost incomparable with any filly, anywhere.”

Click above to watch a few clips of Mick and Cheryl Goss
visiting Ipi Tombe, in foal to Medaglia d’Oro,
in the US with Alec Hogg and Barry Irwin.

Footage courtesy of Alec Hogg.

DUBAI INTERNATIONAL RACING CARNIVAL UPDATE

IMBONGI - SOUTH AFRICA
(Photo : Andrew Watkins/ERA/Emac)

IMBONGI SINGS OUR PRAISES

This time, it’s not only Summerhill in the headlines, its South Africa. It’s official at last, but we’ve been wondering for a while now who the Victor Ludorum would be in terms of earnings at this year’s Dubai International Racing Carnival. The good news for the Rainbow Nation is that two of the top three places are occupied by South Africans, while Mike de Kock’s charges hold four of the first six spots.

Imbongi heads the list with earnings of DHS 846,400 (approximately R1,715,820) while Mr Brock slides in with a handy DHS 798,560 (approximately R1,618,240).

Dubai has long been a happy hunting ground for South African horses, who seem to take to the desert conditions and the climate with aplomb. Victory Moon, Ipi Tombe, Jay Peg, Grey’s Inn, they’ve all flown the flag with pride, and now we have Imbongi, living up to the Zulu interpretation of his name “signing the praises”.

TOP 10 THOROUGHBRED HORSES BY EARNINGS
2010 DUBAI INTERNATIONAL RACING CARNIVAL

#	Horse	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	Runs	Prize Money
1	IMBONGI (SAF)	1	2	0	0	0	3	846,400
2	ALLYBAR (IRE)	2	0	0	1	0	3	828,000
3	MR BROCK (SAF)	2	0	1	1	0	4	798,560
4	RAIHANA (AUS)	2	0	0	1	0	3	708,400
5	MENDIP (USA)	2	0	0	0	0	2	662,400
6	MUSIR (AUS)	2	0	0	0	0	2	662,400
7	GLORIA DE CAMPEAO (BRZ)	1	1	0	0	0	2	662,400
8	PRESVIS (GB)	1	1	0	0	0	2	662,400
9	RED DESIRE (JPN)	1	0	0	0	0	1	662,400
10	SIROCCO BREEZE (GB)	2	0	0	0	0	3	651,360

Mike de Kock armed for Golden Jubilee Dogfight

J J The Jet Plane, Ascot
(Photo : Daily Mail)

Mike de Kock and J J The Jet Plane have captivated the interest of the UK racing media in the buildup to Saturday’s Golden Jubilee Stakes where they will challenge for South African glory in the final Group 1 trophy of Royal Ascot 2009.

Following is an extract from yesterday’s edition of the UK’s Mirror, written by David Yates :

Royal Ascot
Saturday 20 June 2009, Race 3
The Golden Jubilee Stakes

“I feel the need… the need for speed…”

Australia plundered Saturday’s Golden Jubilee Stakes in 2003 with King’s Stand Stakes hero Choisir.

Two years later, the six furlong sprint - run at York while Ascot was being rebuilt - went to Hong Kong raider Cape Of Good Hope.

Now J J The Jet Plane is the bookies’ favourite to make racing history by taking the prize to South Africa.

But victory for the five-year-old would mark just the latest overseas plunder for Mike De Kock, the trainer who has made his name dispatching runners from his Johannesburg base to capture some of the biggest races on the planet.

A decade ago Mike de Kock came to Ascot with a view to sending his stable star Horse Chestnut for a clash with Europe’s top middle-distance cream in the King George.

The plan to run didn’t come off, but a sortie to America saw Horse Chestnut demolish his rivals in Gulfstream Park’s prestigious Broward Handicap - and Mike de Kock was bitten by the travel bug.

“In any sport, you want to pitch yourself against your peers abroad,” explains the 45 year-old Mike de Kock, who as a boy became fascinated by the goings-on at Johannesburg’s Newmarket racecourse, a couple of furlongs from his family home.

After a couple of years in the Equestrian Unit of the SA Defence Force, Mike de Kock learned his trade in the training ranks of his native city before taking out a licence in his own name in 1989.

“The ambition to run Horse Chestnut in the King George didn’t take place, but it was his win in America that whet my appetite for international competition.

“I came across to Ascot and I thought, ‘This is what I want.’ But you’ve got to have the horses to be competitive.

“Sitting in South Africa, you’re looking abroad and everything in America and England looks so big, and you’re almost nervous to have a crack at it.” The exploits of the ex-Zimbabwean mare Ipi Tombe, which included a track-record win in Dubai’s Group 1 Dubai Duty Free on World Cup night in 2003, established Mike de Kock as a force on the international scene.

“I felt Ipi Tombe was good enough to race abroad,” he recalls. “I felt, ‘If there’s a better horse, then I want to see it.” “We didn’t really know how competitive we would be until we took our horses abroad.”

“We thought she would be competitive, but I didn’t imagine she would win in Dubai like she did.”

Ipi Tombe was crowned Dubai Horse of the Year for 2003, while Mike de Kock topped the trainers’ list at its spring meeting five years running from 2004.

Last year he even improved Aidan O’Brien cast-offs Archipenko and Eagle Mountain to score at the highest level in Hong Kong last year.

But success at Royal Ascot represents uncharted territory for Mike de Kock, who recruited dual Group 1 winner J J The Jet Plane to race at the Dubai Carnival this spring.

A Group 3 winner at Nad Al Sheba in February, the gelded son of champion South African speedster Jet Master arrived at his summer base in Newmarket last month, before warming up for Ascot in a Listed sprint at Windsor.

J J The Jet Plane lived up to his odds of 4-7 by four lengths from Intrepid Jack, and Mike de Kock admits: “I would have been very disappointed if he’d got beat or struggled to win.”

“People have said it wasn’t a very accomplished field, but I’ve gone back on the form and the other horses have some pretty good form.”

“The second is rated 107 and we’ve given him 7lbs and a four-length beating, so J J’s got to be running very close to his mark and I thought it was a good win.”

“He’s a very straightforward horse. He’s got exceptional speed and he’s also got that kick, that stamina with his speed, that I think makes him a horse that is going to be competitive on the world stage.”

The nomadic life travelling from one major racing carnival to another suits Mike de Kock, who has no plans for permanent settlement in Britain, adding: “I’m very happy to follow the sun - it would be difficult for me to make a base because in the winter I don’t want to be here!” Weather-wise a British summer comes with no guarantees, but Mike de Kock is already an enthusiastic convert to the domestic racing programme.

“You get some unbelievable meetings here and some of the best horses in the world to race.”

“The Derby is followed by Royal Ascot, which gets followed up by the July meetings, which gets followed up by York - Jesus, it doesn’t stop!”

“If I’ve got a top horse then I don’t believe there’s a place in the world that gives you the same value as England does - as a stallion or broodmare prospect.”

“You really, really are spoilt for really good racing at the top end.”