Trainer Mike de Kock turned a negative situation into a positive when he declared Soqrat a runner in the R2-million Gauteng Chris Gerber Gr1 Summer Cup, Proudly brought to you by Bidvest, over 2000m at Turffontein on Saturday 30 November.
Tabnews reports that after Barahin won the Gr2 Charity Mile and Soqrat the Gr3 Victory Moon Stakes, De Kock said he would send Soqrat to Cape Town and try and get a Gr1 win in the Summer Cup from Barahin.
Soqrat – takes his chances in Summer Cup (Pic – JC Photos)
“The reason I changed my mind is because of the uncertainty regarding travelling around the country because of an outbreak of African Horse Sickness (AHS),” said De Kock yesterday. “So, there’s no point leaving Soqrat in his box, especially since he is super fit.”
But the news is great for the race itself as this is likely to be the strongest field we have seen in many a year. De Kock now has a powerful hand indeed with Soqrat, Barahin, Queen Supreme, Cascapedia and Atyaab.
That gives him four of the top five horses in the betting.
The jockey arrangements are also quite interesting as Anton Marcus gets on to Soqrat, Bernard Fayd’Herbe rides Barahin, Callan Murray has Queen Supreme, Craig Zackey is aboard Cascapedia and Muzi Yeni picked up Atyaab.
The problem for many trainers is the inclusion of Soqrat, who has top weight of 60kg, has resulted in the weights of horses with lower merit ratings being compressed. In fact, 12 of the 20 runners are out of the weights to various degrees.
That means, with the exception of the top two, the other 18 are carrying between 52kg and 53.5kg. Of course, that has left many trainers in a quandary as they are unable to find lightweight jockeys to ride their horses. It has also resulted in jockeys like Gavin Lerena and Piere Strydom without a rides.
Sean Tarry will be delighted that Al Mutawakel, the half-brother of Al Sahem, did make the final field although he is heavily under sufferance based on merit ratings. At this stage, Tarry still has to find him a jockey.
