South African trainer Mike De Kock’s assault on the 2013 Dubai Racing Carnival has already begun in earnest.
De Kock has a high quality team of former SA-based horses about to depart Mauritius after 90 days in quarantine, en route to his UK base and ultimately on to his Dubai stable.
The Dubai World Cup, the world’s richest race, is a goal for De Kock as it is one of the few sought-after trophies in Dubai that has eluded him.
He came within a heartbeat of victory when the ill-fated Lizard’s Desire got within a nostril of beating Gloria De Campeao in 2010 when the race was run at the new Meydan course for the first time.
The Dubai International Racing Carnival gets underway in January and continues for 11 weeks, culminating with World Cup meeting on March 30.
The brilliant Igugu. South Africa's Horse of the Year in 2011, heads the squad leaving Mauritius.
Australian-bred Igugu has won her last seven races in succession, all Group events including the J&B Met and is bound to make an impact in Dubai.
The former Gavin Van Zyl-trained G1 Champions Cup and G1 Daily News winner The Apache is another outstanding Dubai prospect now with De Kock.
He joined De Kock in March after Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum purchased a 50% share from the colt’s original owner Winston Chow.
The Apache was originally headed for Hong Kong, but the onerous AHS protocols as well as restrictions on imports into that country put an end to those plans.
The unbeaten Equus champion two year old colt Soft Falling Rain is one of the exciting younger prospects in the De Kock team.
The unbeaten son of National Assembly is a winner of all four starts including a dazzling win in the G1 SA Nursery on Champions Day beating the subsequent winners of the G1 Premier’s Champion Stakes and G1 Golden Horseshoe.
Others in the De Kock team, for Dubai include the former Geoff Woodruff-trained champion sprinter Shea Shea, winner of the 2011 G1 Golden Horse Casino Sprint and the G1 Computaform Sprint.
Lesser lights to watch include Jet Legend, a lightly raced 5YO who has won five of his ten starts including the G3 Kings Cup, the Australian-bred Mushreq, a two-time winner who went down narrowly in the G1 Golden Horseshoe last year, and Royal Ridge, who booked his Dubai passage courtesy of a good win in the Egoli Mile.
The Australian-bred Amanee, winner of the G1 Thekwini Stakes as a juvenile and the G2 KRA Fillies Guineas last season, is also in the team.
