With the 2016 Dubai World Cup Carnival starting next Thursday, the blue of Godolphin makes a return to Meydan on Friday with Charlie Appleby saddling two runners at the New Year’s Day matinee fixture
Mike de Kock’s runner had finished fast and wide up the home straight under Wayne Smith
They say the unexamined life is not worth living and life’s rear view mirror occasionally shows up details that weren’t obvious at first glance, so before we launch headlong into 2016, I thought it would be fun to look back at the year that was.
Irish-bred three-year-old Tannaaf will be racing for Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum, Mike de Kock and jockey Wayne Smith in the Qatar Derby over 2000m
Moofeed and Aurum Pot look set to fight out the finish and as long as he doesn’t get too far out of his ground, the De Kock galloper holds a slight edge
Racing has its own unique magic, but you need to know the stories to fully appreciate it, It’s not a question of soft selling or rose-tinting anything, it’s just a question of knowing where to look.
It had to only be a matter of time before Mike De Kock would grab a Cape Summer Of Champions Gr1 trophy and the multiple champion trainer did it in style courtesy of a superb display of big race riding and timed-to–the-minute preparation to score his fourth win in the Cape’s premier classic
There are 181 accepted horses with 22 Group or Grade 1 winners among them. The horses come from 16 countries and this year count among their number the first Dubai World Cup Carnival representatives from South Korea in Cheongu and Success Story, trained by Inseok Seo.
Jockey Sherman Brown stepped into top man Weichong Marwing’s boots at Turffontein on Saturday and showed that he can steer the good ones home
“If the extra hours on the road affected her it will only show in the race on Saturday, but with 48 hours to go there is every chance she will be 100% come race time.”
Mike de Kock’s horses are trained in sophisticated ways and now a number of his grooms and work riders are being equipped with inner strength and focus acquired via the ancient spiritual practice of Yoga
A Cape jockey has told of the enormous relief and the burden lifted from his shoulders on Friday after two well-known racing men took the cudgels up on his behalf some months ago to defend the father of four against an NHRA charge
A Pick 6 carryover of R2 million is set to take the exotic pool to R15 million, while the World Pool Gr3 Gold Cup sees a Quartet carryover of R1 million and a likely pool of R5 million
