IMBONGI, THE DUBAI DUTY FREE AND THE MEANING OF ONE

Saddlecloth number one for Imbongi
(Image : Summerhill Stud)

$5,000,000 DUBAI DUTY FREE (Gr1)
Meydan 27 March 2010

When it comes to the big races of the world, it’s always an honour to be awarded the number one saddlecloth, particularly in an international field. That’s the fate of our man Imbongi, who heads up the field for the time-honoured $5million Dubai Duty Free (Gr1) tomorrow evening (17:55 pm local time Channel 232). No race of this magnitude is an easy picking, the prize money alone guaranteeing the attraction of some world class competitors. Imbongi will have to cope with the formidable claim of Luca Cumani’s charge, Presvis, a dual international Group One winner, the Hong Kong Champion Good Ba Ba, and the top American contender, Courageous Cat, among several others with serious talent.

Let’s not forget though, that local buyers missed their chance to get their claws on Imbongi as a Ready To Run Sales candidate a few seasons back, off a reserve price of just R80 000. That he went on to become South Africa’s Champion Three-Year-Old Miler was just a precursor to what’s happened since. In 2009 he showed glimpses of what we might expect at the Dubai Carnival with a convincing win in England’s Group Two Criterion Stakes at racings headquarters, Newmarket. Injury saw him consigned to Dubai for the duration of their punishingly hot summer, but his form at the Carnival reminded us of his adaptability. Bred and raised in Zululand where the climate ranges from minus 5 in the dead of winter to thirty something at the height of summer, Imbongi is as resilient to the elements as he is to the rigours of racing, evidenced by his being proclaimed the Victor Ladorum of the Carnival, with earnings nudging R2million.

Tomorrow evening though, he finally gets his reward. A line-up in one of the world’s most prestigious horseraces, and the number one saddlecloth tells us he’s earned it.

IMBONGI : THE WARRIOR'S RETURN

Imbongi
John Bovington Memorial Criterion Stakes Gr3
(Photo : Daily Mail)

“IMBONGI takes England’s biggest race of the weekend”

All week, Mike de Kock has been tipping Imbongi as the horse who thrived most since his string arrived in the UK. When Imbongi had done and dusted the Criterion Stakes (Gr.3) in facile fashion his pilot, Kevin Shea dismounted with the announcement that this was just the beginning. He felt the horse could step up from here, and while he was non-committal about where he would go in the next month or so, knowing Mike de Kock, he’s likely to make the progression to Group 2 level, and then cast his eyes towards something like the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (Gr.1) at Ascot in September.

Like so many others in Mike de Kock’s yard, Imbongi really battled in Dubai, and was nowhere near his best, but Saturday he put all the ghosts away, and his form at last, approached the spectacles South African racegoers became accustomed to in his dual Guineas sagas and his demolition of four Grade One winners, including Horse of The Year, Pocket Power, in last year’s Drill Hall Stakes (Gr.2).

Don’t forget though, this was a horse that was turned out of the ring unsold at the Emperor’s Palace Ready To Run, and it took a man of Ronnie Napier’s decades in racing to recognise his potential on a frosty Saturday morning at the Summerhill gallops. So much for the unwanted child!

P.S. There was a double celebration in this one. Imbongi’s was the first winner from Sheikh Mohammed’s newly acquired Abingden Place yard, Mike’s English headquarters. If it weren’t for the Sheikh’s enterprise and his love of the game, we’d not’ve been in England.

 

Watch the John Bovington Memorial Criterion Stakes (Gr3)

Imbongi to make European debut

IMBONGI
“traditional poet of the Zulu or Xhosa people who composes poetry
in praise of a leader”
(Photo : HKJC/inkokhelo/Nicholas Goss/AfricanSkies)

News filtering in from the UK is that Imbongi is set to make his European debut at Newmarket’s July Course this Saturday afternoon, June 27. (16h25 our time on DSTV Channel232)

Following a string of fine efforts in Hong Kong and Dubai earlier in the year, Mike de Kock’s charge is one of 18 challengers entered for the £65,000 Group Three John Bovington Memorial Criterion Stakes to be run over seven-furlongs.

The South African fighter finished a staying-on sixth last time out in the Group One Champions Mile at Sha Tin on April 26. Imbongi had previously been fourth in two Group Two races at Nad Al Sheba and was narrowly denied on his seasonal debut at the same course in a valuable seven-furlong handicap, when he just failed to collar Hatta Fort.

In South Africa last year, the Summerhill-bred Imbongi proved himself to be one of the leading milers of his generation, starting with electrifying victories in the Grade Two Gauteng Guineas at Turffontein in March and the Grade Two KZN Guineas at Greyville in April before returning to Greyville in May to destroy five previous Grade One winners in the Grade Two Drill Hall Stakes, including South African “Horse of the Year, Pocket Power.

Mike de Kock revealed to Newmarket Racecourse correspondents : “Imbongi is an intended runner in the John Bovington Memorial Criterion Stakes as things stand. He worked on the Rowley Mile with Diana’s Choice two weeks ago and he took it well. I think that seven furlongs to a mile is his best trip and the forecast ground should be an advantage for him.”

“We had some poor ventilation in Dubai and some of the horses bled out there but he still showed a decent level of form, including when he finished in front of Vodka in a Group Two in March.”

“It wasn’t a bad performance in Hong Kong either, when he ran from quite far back. Alexandros was a neck behind him on that occasion and he went on to be second in the Lockinge Stakes, so we have some collateral form to work with.”

“Some of the top milers around ran in that race and he was too far out of his ground, but he still ran on well in the closing stages. We will hopefully start him off at Newmarket and then take his season from there.”

Imbongi looks set to face some tough opposition including Racer Forever, who got the better of King Of Dixie in a thrilling finish to last year’s race. Subsequent Group One winner Court Masterpiece was also narrowly denied in 2005 and the nine-year-old, now in the care of John Quinn after a spell at stud, could return to Newmarket following a fine third in a York conditions race on his first start for more than two years.

Ancien Regime may make his Godolphin debut following a progressive three-year-old campaign for Michael Jarvis that included victory in the Coral.co.uk Sprint on the Rowley Mile and a close sixth in the Group One Sprint Cup at Doncaster in September, while Huntdown, third in last year’s Group One Shadwell Middle Park Stakes, could also make his first appearance for Saeed bin Suroor, having previously been trained by John Gosden.

Other notable entries include Winker Watson, who enjoyed Group Two success on the July Course in the TNT July Stakes in 2007, last season’s Group One Stan James sponsored 1000 Guineas fifth Dream Eater, as well as Laa Rayb and Balthazaar’s Gift, who were third and fourth respectively in the Group Two Victor Chandler Challenge Stakes on the Rowley Mile in October.