SPORTING POST leads with an article about Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum’s Terrible Gulch on their website, sportingpost.co.za, this Friday. Clearly impressed, they assess:  “The depth of the Mike de Kock string must surely send shivers down the spine of every trainer in South Africa and the 47 year old horseman showed his prowess and foresight at a low-key midweek meet at Scottsville in the Capital of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, on Wednesday 1 June with a neat double, which included the two year old Thunder Gulch colt, Terrible Gulch (Anthony Delpech),  who arrogantly dismissed  his elder rivals in an open company handicap over 1400m.

“Granted the opposition were hardly the stuff of high performance dreams , with the likes of James Goodman’s consistent but moderate Malhub gelding Seven Network chasing the youngster home, but there  was something really nice about the way the Argentinian-bred youngster quickened late to win going away.

“We have all heard the bar and tote talk. ‘If I had De Kock’s owners and horses, I would be also be winning races all over the world.’  To the contrary, it is not quite as simple as that. Some very smart horses have had their careers ruined by some very intelligent men. Some guys can train horses. Others can’t. But Mike de Kock sure as hell can and he cautioned punters prior to the meeting by saying the two year old ‘was not an aimer’ and was being tested and prepped for a proposed feature race campaign.

“The awfully named colt not unexpectedly blew in the betting but he came back and blew them away on the track. He is now undefeated in two from two after an impressive odds-on debut at the same track at the end of February and could be just about anything. A blind man from a skyscraper can see that he is one for the notebook.”