Anthony Delpech drives Ilitshe through down the inside to hold the grey Everest in a thriller (JC Phtos)
Anthony Delpech rode a cracker of a race aboard the Mike De Kock trained Ilitshe to win the R150 000 Listed Derby Trial at Turffontein on Saturday. The improving Australian bred son of Fastnet Rock got his act together and showed guts and courage when changing legs in the final 40m to hang on to an impressive victory.
The accolades are always dished out when the result is in the frame, but this ride by Delpech and the performance by Ilitshe were performances out of the top drawer.
With no willing pacesetter Ilitshe was forced to make all the running and in the end was chased all the way from the 300m by Everest, who kept him honest to the line.
Having been headed in the final stages, Ilitshe changed legs at the 40m marker and kicked again to gain a short head verdict from the judge.
Delpech, who remains unbeaten on Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum’s charge, having partnered him to a hat-trick of wins will be weighing up his chances of a four-timer because Ilitshe’s style of running suggests that he’ll be well suited by the 2450m when the Derby is contested on Champions Day, 26 April.
It will be interesting to see if the jock decides to stay with Ilitshe. His useful stablemates Umgiyo, Taarish and Gone Baby Gone are also among the nominations and it won’t be all that easy to anticipate which one will make the most improvement in the run-up to the Gr1 marathon for three-year-old stayers.
They may all be hard-pressed to beat Geoff Woodruff’s top class, Triple Crown-seeking runner, Louis The King, but the Derby has a knack of throwing up unexpected results.
Matthew De Kock had a good day
Assistant trainer Mathew De Kock knows that all too well – a few years ago the rising star Piere Jourdan drew a huge crowd to Turffontein for his own attempt at lifting the elusive crown, but was beaten in the region of 10 lengths by the De Kock stable’s then new acquisition Irish Flame, who excelled at the excruciating journey and enjoyed the soft track condition on the day.
“They’ll have us to beat,” Matt predicted in reference to the Derby after Ilitshe’s win. “Well done to Nathan Kotzen and the Durban team. Ilitshe was sent to us on Wednesday and he arrived in impeccable condition. We didn’t do much with him here, we’d heard he was a difficult horse but there were no problems with him this week.”
Anthony Delpech said that they went past him late in the race and that he had hoped that they would take him on early.
“The penny hasn’t dropped yet. There was no pace so that meant I had to lead. He looks at every thing but behaved well today. I really like this horse,” he said.
Ilitshe has now won 3 of 5 starts with 1 place and R201 250 in stakes.
He was sold for R1 million at the Ready to Run Sale in 2012 and was earlier bought as a yearling for A$15 000 in February the same year.
