BOLD SILVANO OUT : THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Click above to remember Bold Silvano’s win in the 2010 Vodacom Durban July (Gr1)
(Image : Gold Circle - Footage : SABC 3)

DUBAI WORLD CUP
26 MARCH 2011

We may have had a good weekend at the Cricket World Cup, victory over Bangladesh ensuring we top our group, but South Africa suffered a helluva blow in the equine version of the World Cup, scheduled for this weekend. The news filtered through about mid-day Monday, that Mike de Kock’s big World Cup hope, Bold Silvano, had injured himself in a training accident, and was to be withdrawn. He was probably the biggest chance we’ve had at winning the race, (remember, we were a whisker second last year, with Lizard’s Desire, and Summerhill graduate, Paris Perfect, was a commendable third the year before,) but Bold Silvano stood out as the 22/10 betters’ choice, ahead of the European champion, Twice Over (who’s now the “chalk” in international markets). “He worked well Sunday, but seems to have tweaked or pulled something. We cannot actually put our finger on it immediately but it is enough to rule him out. It’s a great shame as he is a genuine World Cup horse. It has not been easy with him this season but we will be back next year. At least we have back up in the shape of Golden Sword, who will take his place”, lamented De Kock.

In another major defection, Ed Dunlop’s European Champion filly, Snow Fairy, has been pulled out of the Sheema Classic (Gr1,) where she was bound to have started favourite.

We had just posted the anticipated fields for the World Cup and the Sheema Classic when we got the news, and we were on the point of mentioning that the cards had pretty much stacked up as we had anticipated, despite all the rumours to the contrary. As we saw it, Bold Silvano and Musir were to be South African’s big hopes in the World Cup, with Golden Sword aimed at the Sheema Classic. River Jetez was our choice for the Duty Free along with stable companion, Raihana and Herman Brown’s Bankable, while Mahbooba and Reem take on the colts in the UAE Derby.

Our own man, Imbongi (third in last year’s Duty Free,) has always been slated for a shot at the Godolphin Mile on the more forgiving tapeta surface, where De Kock tells us he’s a money chance. The other outstanding South African slated for the evening is J J The Jet Plane, who just doesn’t seem to like synthetic tracks, so Lucky Houdalakis has no choice but to go for the Al Quoz Sprint, as opposed to the Golden Shaheen.

Our best shots at the number one slots now rest with River Jetez and J J The Jet Plane, it seems, but what an extraordinary blow for a little country like ours, to lose a candidate of Bold Silvano’s calibre, when the eyes of the world are upon you.

Never mind, we’ll be back, and it might just turn out that it will be in both versions of the World Cup. That’s the way of our world.

DUBAI DUTY FREE 2011 : FINAL FIELD

River Jetez - South Africa
(Photo : Gold Circle)

US$5,000,000 DUBAI DUTY FREE (Group 1)
Meydan, Turf, 1800m
26 March 2011

FINAL FIELD

#	Horse	Kg	HR	Dr	Jockey	Trainer
1	BANKABLE (IRE)	57.0	116	0	K Shea	Herman Brown
2	BEAUTY FLASH (NZ)	57.0	118	0	G Mosse	Tony Cruz
3	BEETHOVEN (IRE)	57.0	117	0	S Sanders	Ahmad Kobeissi
4	BETTER THAN EVER (AUS)	57.0	119	0	S Jumaat	Laurie Laxon
5	DEBUSSY (IRE)	57.0	120	0	A Ajtebi	Mahmoud Al Zarooni
6	DERBAAS (USA)	57.0	115	0	R Hills	Ali Rashid Al Raihe
7	MENDIP (USA)	57.0	117	0	L Dettori	Saeed bin Suroor
8	PRESVIS (GB)	57.0	120	0	R Moore	Luca Cumani
9	RAJSAMAN (FR)	57.0	115	0	K Fallon	Frederic Head
10	ROYAL BENCH (IRE)	57.0	116	0	O Peslier	Robert Collet
11	TAZEEZ (USA)	57.0	118	0	T O’Shea	John Gosden
12	VICTOR’S CRY (USA)	57.0	115	0	V Espinoza	Eoin Harty
13	WIGMORE HALL (IRE)	57.0	117	0	J Spencer	Michael Bell
14	RAIHANA (AUS)	55.0	113	0	C Soumillon	Mike de Kock
15	RIVER JETEZ (SAF)	55.0	110	0	B Fayd’Herbe	Mike de Kock
16	STRAWBERRYDAIQUIRI (GB)	55.0	113	0	J Murtagh	Fawzi Nass

*South African Connections Highlighted

DUBAI WORLD CUP NIGHT : NOT JUST A FEW FINGERS

South African Trainer, Mike de Kock
(Image : Summerhill Stud)

DUBAI WORLD CUP NIGHT
26 March 2011

Mike de Kock’s stranglehold on the Dubai Racing Carnival’s trainer’s championship over the past decade has thrust him into the conjecture of horsemen across the globe, as to whether he is not the reigning king among racehorse conditioners. As complete as his dominance has been in the past several years, it’s an arguable proposition that this year he has a fistful of even better prospects for World Cup night.

Ask any group of Super Fifteen franchise coaches, and they’ll tell you it’s a long haul to the finals, and that as much as you might have a skilled team on your hands, you still need to have a minimum of interventions. Injury can lay the best plans to waste, and Mike de Kock will need all the elements on his side going into the grande finale, but on the face of what we’ve seen so far, he’ll have as formidable a hand as anybody’s ever had.

Bold Silvano must surely top his list of hopefuls for the $10 million Dubai World Cup itself, and it’s probable he will be backed up by Musir in that line-up.

From what he told us last week, and on the evidence of his showing on Friday evening, Golden Sword has put his hand up in no uncertain terms, with options for both the World Cup and the Sheema Classic (over 2400m, a distance at which he’s already excelled in Europe). While he’s been a hard knocker as a stallion in Europe, his sire High Chaparral is as hot-as-hell in the Southern Hemisphere, where he’s been represented by the likes of So You Think and Shootout in Australia, and Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifah Al Maktoum and Mary Slack have a proper sire prospect on their hands.

Any trainer would count himself happy with those three alone, but that’s not the end of Mike de Kock’s retinue. Raihana has already booked her place for the Duty Free, while River Jetez staked an enormous claim with her closing burst in Friday’s Balanchine (Gr.2). She looks to be in the form of her life, (yes, even better than on J&B Met day, when she put down the charge of her illustrious full brother, Pocket Power), and she would obviously have options in both the Duty Free and the Sheema Classic (she won the Gold Circle Oaks over the trip).

Dare we mention it, but our own Imbongi, third in last year’s Duty Free, must be a big runner in the Godolphin Mile, given his liking for the tapeta surface. He’s getting on a bit now, and has a bit of mileage on those wheels, so Mike thinks he’s a better prospect on the forgiving tapeta, as opposed to the turf. That means he probably won’t be defending his title in the Super Thursday edition of the Zabeel Mile (Gr.2), but he’ll be out there doing his stuff, either way. His younger brother Mahubo was a fast closing second on Thursday evening, and he’ll be squeezed back into the programme somewhere along the line, “Inshallah” (as they like to say in Dubai).

DESERT TUNES : THE M.F. DE KOCK MACHINE ROLLS ON

Click above to watch Bold Silvano winning the 2010 Vodacom Durban July (Gr1)
(Image : Gold Circle - Footage : SABC 3)

DUBAI INTERNATIONAL RACING CARNIVAL
2011 UPDATE

There’s been quite a bit of comment recently on this site about the racing in Dubai at this season’s carnival, and which horses are likely to run where. We were on the line with Mike de Kock earlier, about our own horse, Imbongi, whom he says is likely to take his place in the Godolphin Mile (Gr.2) on World Cup night. Mike thinks he’s pretty much booked his place already with his excellent performance in the Dubai Duty Free (Gr.1) and his follow up runs this year, but feels he’s better off on the more forgiving surface of the tapeta, now that he’s in his third season in Dubai.

Exactly which horses will go to the Duty Free remains to be settled, but Raihana we guess, could be one of them. It’s really his hand in the big race though (for $10 million again this year) that gets the juices going. Bold Silvano has already booked his passage, while Musir’s strong first up run last week, suggests he’s on track for the Dubai World Cup as well. We don’t really think it’s a choice between Mr. Brock and Golden Sword, as has been suggested. The former might not make the cut, but Mike seems to think that Golden Sword might be an even better horse on the tapeta than he is on the turf, some statement for a horse that won the Chester Vase in England, and then ran big in both the Epsom and Irish Derbys in 2009. One of our correspondents said he’d go with Golden Sword, and we agree, while it’s possible Mr.Brock could run for the $5million of the Sheema Classic over 2400m instead. That’s not what Mike said (we didn’t discuss Mr.Brock with him), so it’s just a personal observation.

Whichever way you look at it, the M.F. de Kock machine rolls on, and the pickings are looking juicer every day.

THERE’S NO SUBSTITUTE FOR QUALITY

Click above to watch
Quality Road winning the Metropolitan Handicap (Gr1)
(Photo : USA Today - Footage : Belmont Park)

QUALITY ROAD
METROPOLITAN HANDICAP (GR1)

One of the most revered races in the American calendar is the Metropolitan (Gr.1), run over a mile at Belmont Park. It’s thrown up any number of top stallions, and is the best mile test of a racehorse in the whole of the United States. Surprisingly, it’s run on a Monday, but these quirks are something that’ve been embedded in the lore of the thoroughbred in different countries for centuries. For example, the English staged the Epsom Derby on a Wednesday for more than 300 years, though more recently it’s come to be a Saturday fixture, now proudly bearing the name of our local banking institution, Investec. The Australians declare a public holiday for their Tuesday celebration of the Melbourne Cup, so Monday is probably an appropriate time for the “Met”.

This years running was won by the best horse seen out so far in America, Quality Road, who landed his second Grade One and his third Graded Stakes of the season with a consummate victory by 1,5 lengths. Like the celebrated Smarty Jones and the world champion miler, Raven’s Pass, he’s a son of the enigmatic Darley Stallion, Elusive Quality, sire too this last season of Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifah al Maktoum’s Raihana, who under Mike de Kock’s tutelage took the UAE Oaks during the Dubai Carnival. She’s now in the care of David Payne in  Australia, and if Mike’s regard for her is anything to go by, she looks set for a big season.

It’s all the stranger then that the Australians have gone “soft” on the progeny of Elusive Quality, but that opens doors for those who understand the stallion’s prowess, and last week our team were the beneficiaries. We nabbed the best specimen we’ve had the pleasure to inspect over the years in Australia and (we’ve seen dozens of them), and he’ll be among a band which includes two Rock Of Gibraltars and a son of the only horse in American history to win a Breeders Cup Juvenile as well as a Kentucky Derby, Street Sense.

On that topic, we bought what is arguably the best draft of horses we’ve ever acquired in that part of the world, and we’re “goosey” with the prospect of presenting them in our draft next April at the Emperors Palace National Yearling Sales.