Longstanding Dean Kannemeyer Racing team member Morris Mg Cube was the proudest man at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on Saturday after his favourite charge Gimme A Prince had stormed to an eye-catching victory in the R1,5 million HKJC World Pool Gr1 Cape Flying Championship.
The A Team have their moments! Dean Kannemeyer and Morris Mg Cube pose with champion Gimme A Prince and the World Pool Moment Of The Day prize (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
Now a 6yo, Gimme A Prince won the same prestigious contest back in 2023, and after missing out due to injury in 2024, bounced back with emphatic vengeance to stamp himself as South Africa’s leading sprinter on a sun drenched Saturday.
For the 67 year old Morris Mg Cube, who has worked at the Milnerton Training Centre for 48 years, and close on thirty of those with the Kannemeyer family, the sensational victory by the Gimmethegreenlight gelding earned him the World Pool Moment Of The Day accolade and a very welcome bonus of R100 000.
The 2025 Moment of the Day series launched on Cape Town Met Day at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth and earns the Groom of the selected horse a prize of the equivalent of HK$40 000.
A delighted Morris told the Sporting Post that he had won the same prize back in 2023, and expressed his gratitude to the HKJC World Pool organisers, Cape Racing, and to the champion sprinter’s internationally renowned owner Lady Christine Laidlaw and trainer Dean Kannemeyer.
World Pool is an exciting and innovative version of international commingling and aims to promote the world’s best horse races, using the IFHA Top 100 Gr1 Races as a benchmark.
As of the 2024-2025 racing season, World Pool has featured over 80 prestigious Gr1 races from past three years. Elite races from different continents are available to punters worldwide.
Morris will join the other winners this year and get the chance to be named World Pool Moment of the Year and win a VIP trip for four to Hong Kong for either the 2026 Hong Kong Derby or 2026 Champions Day.
Each of the individual World Pool Moment of the Day winners will be narrowed down to a shortlist, before being voted on by the public to determine the World Pool Moment of the Year, which will be revealed at the Hong Kong International Races at Sha Tin in December.
City of Troy and his groom David Hickey were crowned World Pool Moment of the Year winner in 2024.
The 67 year old Morris joined the Kannemeyer team under Dean’s late Dad Peter in 1997, and has tended to some top gallopers, including the likes of stable champion Free My Heart, said that he was thrilled and proud to have been acknowledged.
Born in the small village of Tsolo in the Eastern Cape, Morris started working for the legendary horseman Johnny Cawcutt in 1977, and also did stints with David Coleman and Paddy Kruyer, before he signed up with the Kannemeyers in 1997.
The father of three, and a proud granddad, lives with his wife and three adult children in the sprawling Dunoon township near the Milnerton Training Complex. Two of his three children work, while his wife has a three day-a-week job as a domestic.
“Life is very expensive and inflation eats away at every hope of saving for education to improve our situation and building an asset base. We don’t have much more than family love and togetherness but the World Pool cash prize is a life changer for my family. I am almost speechless right now but so privileged to be a part of a champion team at Dean Kannemeyer Racing,” concluded an emotional Morris.
