MIKE de Kock’s stable is kicking into full gear again in Kwzulu-Natal as evidenced at Scottsville on Sunday when Anthony Delpech booted home a treble for the yard.
Night Jasmine started the winning sequence with a smart debut win in Race 2 over 1200m. A daughter of Fort Wood and former stakes-winning mare Night Diva, she was bought for R475 000 and is raced by De Kock, the Haynes family and Gary Grant.
Assistant trainer Nathan Kotzen commented: ”She hasn’t got the best of feet and she went down scratchy, but her clas told, she’s a nice filly.”
Night Jasmine
Delpech said: “I was worried when she cantered down, but I warmed her up at the start and she produced a good run, she gave me a good feel in the race.”
Another newcomer, Columbo, raced handy, came to the front at the 300m mark and kept going strongly to win. (headlined photo).
“I think we’ve got a nice horse on our hands here,” said Delpech. “He flew out of the gates and ran very well. Maybe it was not the strongest of fields, but he could have a future.”
Columbo, by Silvano from Pax America, is owned by De Kock and Serge Seenyen.
Mary Slack’s filly Headstrong followed up on her excellent last win by posting another impressive success in Race 6 over 1400m. The filly by Pivotal has won five of 10 starts and as noted before she could have a feature win in her near future.
”She’s a lovely filly, very versatile,” commented Kotzen.
”She was well turned out,” said Delpech. “Last time she got squeezed at the gates and came from last to win. On that I knew she’d be hard to beat today.”
Headstrong
