There will be celebrations all over the world on 5 April if Isivunguvungu wins the Gr1 Al Quoz Sprint at Meydan Racecourse.
That’s because the tongue-twistingly named sprinter [it means storm in isiXhosa] was bred and is owned in South Africa, trained by a US-based Brit and will be ridden by a French-based Belgian.
Isi Team! Former trainer Peter Muscutt, Hollywood Brand Ambassador Odwa Ndungane and Graham Motion with the champion. (Pic – Carlos J. Calo/Eclipse Sportswire/Breeders Cup)
That international cast are are among the best in the business: Dubai World Cup-winning Graham Motion is the trainer, Christophe Soumillon is the jockey and Hollywood Syndicate – an emerging force in racing all over the world – are the owners.
No pressure then, Isivunguvungu…!
“It’ll be exciting to get back, it’s been a while,” says Motion, who won the 2013 Dubai World Cup with Animal Kingdom, the 2011 Kentucky Derby winner. It may be 12 years ago, but the memory burns bright.
“Winning the [Kentucky] Derby was amazing, but to get that horse back after two years off to win the Dubai World Cup, that was really gratifying,” he says. “It was a two-year process to get him back for Dubai. That would have to be the highlight of my career.”
Could Isivunguvungu give him another highlight next month? His is an interesting journey, from winning two Grade Is in South Africa for Peter Muscutt, to winning on US debut for Motion at Colonial Downs, to finishing a creditable seventh in the Gr1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. He started this year with a third in the Turf Dash Stakes at Tampa, a performance which had Motion satisfied.
“He’s doing super; I thought he had a really good prep,” he says. “You could make a case and say he should have won the race in order to come to Dubai, but I really needed to get a prep into him.
“He got a little sick after the Breeders’ Cup when he shipped back to Fair Hill and ended up having a month off, so he literally only had four bits of work before this race at Tampa. So it was more about the timing, and the turf course, and getting a race into him.
“I thought he ran a creditable race. He was a little wide, he had a bad draw. The race achieved what we wanted it to, and he performed perfectly well under the circumstances.
“He’s probably one of the best work horses I’ve had,” he continues. “He’s really rapid in the morning. Not in a crazy, running off, type way, he’s just a very fast horse, but a very kind horse to be around.”
Isivunguvungu will travel to Dubai in the care of Motion’s long-term Traveling Assistant Alice Clapham, who was also responsible for Animal Kingdom.
“He can be aggressive on the track and do more than you want him to, if you’re not careful,” adds the trainer. “I very much doubt I’ll breeze him over there. He’ll do two pieces of work before he comes and I’ll just gallop him up to the race.”
South African success on World Cup night is nothing new, but due to a torrid period of quarantine restrictions you must go back to 2015 and Mubtaahij, trained by Mike De Kock, for their last success on Dubai World Cup night. As such, the Isivunguvungu support network will be out in force.
Mubtaahij (Pic – Supplied)
“They had a tough go with Covid, where they really struggled for a bit, and I think they’ve really shown that these horses can be very competitive internationally,” says Motion, who claimed a notable success recently when the South African bred and owned Beach Bomb won the Gr3 Very One Stakes at Gulfstream Park.
“When these horses came to me, this time last year, they were in quarantine for two months. The objective was to get Beach Bomb and Isivunguvungu to the Breeders’ Cup and in order to do that they couldn’t miss a beat. It was remarkable that everything went as well as it did.
“After they ran in the Breeders’ Cup we could then take a deep breath. I think it showed in the way Beach Bomb won last weekend. I’m thrilled for Gaynor [Rupert, owner of Beach Bomb], she’s been really supportive of me, as have these guys, the Hollywood Syndicate.
“There’s a big group coming to Dubai, with Mike [De Kock] I believe. The horse which won the King’s Plate, which was a Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re In, One Strike, is going to come to us after he runs next weekend. So that’s kind of exciting too.”
Motion is a global thinker and has also taken the unusual step, for a US-based trainer, of nominating a colt, Test Score, for the Derby at Epsom.
“I’m always game for international travel,” he says. “But I think it’s unlikely that we would go, as I’m not sure he’s really a mile and a half horse, and it’s very early for us to be running our three-year-olds a mile and half – we don’t really get that opportunity over here.
“It’s something that I would love to do down the road.”
Motion, who moved to the States in 1980, came agonisingly close to a British winner when Spendarella was runner-up to Inspiral in the Gr1 Coronation Stakes in 2022.
“One of my goals is to win a race over there, I’m always thinking about it,” he says. “I think taking the Europeans on over a mile and a quarter is tough to do. I love the Coronation as it’s a mile, it’s three-year-olds, it has a turn and I like that. I think the straightaway is tough, even though Tepin did it, which she probably didn’t get enough credit for.”
Perhaps Isivunguvungu is the horse that gets him back to Royal Ascot. But first, it’s the Al Quoz and that international cast must step up to the assignment. If they win, it will bring the house down.
