South African horseracing’s ambassador extraordinaire Mike de Kock has accepted invitations for three of his runners, with a possibility of a fourth, for the 2019 Dubai World Cup night – the world’s richest day of horseracing.
Kapil (Weichong Marwing) won in Dubai with Mike De Kock. He is led in by part-owners James Drew and Mike Fullard. (Andrew Watkins)
Total purses for the card, which will feature six Group 1 and three Group 2 fixtures, have increased from $30 million to $35 million – that’s R500 million at current exchange rates.
To put those purses into perspective, the stakes for the one big day equate to 90 odd million of our total national stakes pot and is more than four times a leading racing province like KwaZulu-Natal pays out in a year.
The Group 1 Dubai World Cup sponsored by Emirates Airline, has received a $2 million boost to $12 million and offers a $7.2 million purse to the winner; the highest first-place prize in global thoroughbred racing!
We have noted previously that, despite the quality of his likely representatives, this won’t be a vintage De Kock season but improved fitness will enhance his prospects.
Majestic Mambo and Daily News winner Yulong Prince (better known here as Surcharge) have been invited to run in the Gr1 Dubai Turf over 1800m, while 2017 July winner Marinaresco will be lining up in the Gr2 Dubai Gold Cup over 3200m. This will be the son of Silvano’s first try over a marathon trip.
Hermoso Mundo in action(Pic – JC Photos)
As to a possible fourth string to his bow, De Kock added : “We will be running Hermoso Mundo in the Gr3 Abu Dhabi Championship over 2200m tomorrow. If he runs well, we may be able to get a Gold Cup invite for him as well.”
Bernard Fayd’Herbe will be riding the Ideal World-stayer and former Equus Champion in Abu Dhabi tomorrow. He is rated 104, the highest in the race, and will strip fitter after his recent outing.
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