Horse of the here – and now!

No fears, just tears! An emotional Anthony Delpech brings the champion in.

Mike De Kock and Anthony Delpech in the famous blue and yellow silks for the second year in a row! Certain  experts got the 2011 Vodacom Durban July all wrong and said the flying fily couldn’t win it. How wrong they were. The Triple Tiara winner came, she saw and she conquered in a thrilling finish in front of a capacity crowd at Greyville on Saturday 2 July. She even made her jockey cry.

Let’s face it. It is nothing new but Mike De Kock has few peers when it comes to optimising performance in thoroughbred racehorses. We don’t blow smoke where it isn’t appropriate, but once again De Kock produced the big race bonanza. Delpech had the daughter of Galileo  beautifully placed a few lengths off as Happy Landing and replacement rider Derrick David cut out a fairly sedentary gallop out front. When they spun for home, Delpech pressed the launch button and she fought all the way to the line to hold the Summerhill-bred Pierre Jourdan – who confirmed he isn’t just a Gauteng one hit wonder by running on strongly. English Garden dashed through late for third, while The Apache showed his ability by scything through in his customary late dash style to finish a gallant fourth.

The disappointments? There were dented reputations and burst bubbles aplenty. The fancied  Bravura showed up early and looked dangerous momentarily, but petered out to nothing. The Snaiths Run For It was never in it.  Black Wing ran stone last.  Castlethorpe took a knock early but ran on weakly. Galileo’s Destiny was just not good enough on the day. Super Storm appeared out of his depth and may have been lucky to have got into the race.

Tragedy struck in the closing stages when the 2009 winner Big City Life broke down and had to be eauthenased – after running a brave and courageous 2,25 length sixth place. This is a devastating blow for his connections and for a horse who has built up a mini cult following – and one of the few with his own Facebook page. We share the sadness of this tragedy.

Day of the princess! An elated Andrew Fortune salutes on Princess Victoria.

Andrew Fortune was doubted and criticised for what we thought was his  overzealousness and it seemed as if  he may just have shot  his mouth off after he had won the Alan Robertson on Princess Victoria. He labelled her then  ‘the best two year oild filly I have ever ridden.’ Judged on her scintillating victory today in the R500 000 Gr2 Durban Golden Slipper run over 1400m, Mr Fortune looks spot on. She went off at 11-20 and jumped to settle in midfield from her 12 draw. Fortune let her go about 350m out and she paralysed her field in the famous Jaffee silks, that have won so many Group races at this venue. She is a very valuable filly and trainer Glen Kotzen must be justifiably proud.

Owner Hassen Adams and trainer Justin Snaith will be cursing the antics of various runners in the starting stalls of the R500 000 Zulu Kingdom  Gr1 Golden Horseshoe. The De Kock trained  Mushreq got caught up in the stalls and had to be reloaded, but still ran a superb race in the circumstances to finish second.  There were plenty of unsettled horses here in the stalls, and Adam’s unbeaten favourite Gimmethegreenlight lost many lengths at the jump.  What caused this we don’t know, but he finished impressively, albeit too late,  to run into fourth as Trainer Ivan Moore celebrated a second winner. The Australian-bred Fighting Warrior flew late under Stuart Randolph to collar Mushreq in the dying strides.

Burger and chirps! Carl Burger leads Grey Cossack and Richard Fourie in after a Gold Vase shock.

Phillipi trainer Carl Burger has raised a few eyebrows in recent months with his declared intentions of an assault on the Grade 1 Canon Gold Cup later this month. But he wiped the smirks right off the faces of his detractors when Richard Fourie kept Grey Cossack going to hold off Predestination in the R350 000 Gr2 Miller Dark Horse Gold Vase run over 3000m. The son of Fanatic Dane has battled to find his form in Durban and is frankly something of a camel who takes a hard ride. A suntanned Fourie, who recently returned from a successful stint in Mauritius, took him around his field at about the 2000m marker to step up the pace. And this proved to be the decisive and right move.  Burger muttered something on the lines in the post race ecstacy of ‘ I knew that they would battle to beat us..’,  and this must have bemused and irked Pick Six punters who hadn’t considered the 50-1 outsider. This was only his fourth win and they had no hope of realistically expecting a run in the Vodacom Durban July,  from which he was eliminated. But Burger said afterwards that he would go for the Gr1  Gold Cup  – poking fun at the authorities by quipping: ‘ That’s if we get in!’

.