The UK’s Daily Mail has named Mike de Kock ‘racing’s pioneering international handler’, one who belongs to a “new breed of trainer flourishing on a belief that no race in the world is too far away”
‘At times like these, racing can make bitter enemies of good friends, foster a climate for irreparable divisions and unholy alliances. This could well prove to be a watershed which won’t be shaped without high-brow casualties…’
He was a class above his rivals as a young horse in South Africa, winning the Gr1 Golden Horse Casino Sprint as a three-year-old and the Gr1 Computaform Sprint in his four-year-old career
International Group winner Soft Falling Rain has been secured for stud by Mary Slack’s Wilgerbosdrift Farm.
With regular stable rider Sherman Brown winging his way to Mauritius, 21 year old Hennie Greyling gets his chance to throw his leg over Leon Erasmus’ grey Stage Call gelding Kavinsky at the first Vaal meeting of the new season today
Some lighthearted transcript quotes surface as the Professional Jockeys Association (UK) call for the Emirates Racing Authority to withdraw its costs order against jockey Pat Cosgrave
“Dr Tang took us to lunch when we were in Hong Kong to saddle Variety Club recently. He’s a big supporter of SA racing and he’s keen on getting more involved. He’s another example of a buyer ready to invest in our industry. The floodgates will open once we get the export protocols sorted out.”
There are two schools of thought about what transpired over the last 200m of the July and the outcome of the objection. I have been asked for my view and let me start by saying that I don’t envy the Stipendiary Stewards
“Most of our horses are sore after this meeting, they’re very lame. In all my years in racing I haven’t ever had so many runners return so lame after a race day. It was a shock, I’ve seen some of mine lame before, but not to this degree.”
SA Champion trainer Mike de Kock has only one runner in today’s Gr1 Vodacom Durban July but that could be good enough to give him a fifth victory in the great race
The racing world I knew and wrote about is no longer there. Racing is turning into a brand new thing. It’s becoming a niche industry geared to the big breeders, the big owners and the big trainers.
