MIKE de Kock and Sheikh Hamdan won the 2014 renewal of the GVSC Communications Secretariat Stakes with Mitraad (Aus) and they followed up at Turffontein on Saturday with Suyoof (Aus) who, like his stablemate, raced to an impressive victory under top weight of 60kg.

The Secretariat Stakes traditionally carries a lot of clout for a Listed race. Mitraad has won two races from three starts since last year’s Secretariat victory and he finished third in the recent Gr2 Charity Mile.  In 2010, Shea Shea won this race prior to a string of local and international Gr1 successes. Wagner (2011) went on to win the Gr1 Summer Cup and Louis The King followed a second place in 2012 by bagging the elusive Triple Crown!

Suyoof himself is entered for the Gr1 Cape Guineas and Mathew de Kock commented: “We will see how he comes out of the Secretariat and play things by ear for the Guineas. Suyoof has all the ability but he’s still dumb, a bit green and due to his lack of maturity may not be up to it at this stage.”

This is the photo Diane de Kock will be ordering for the stable’s wall gallery on Monday morning. (JC Photos).

Mathew complimented replacement jockey Sherman Brown on a professional ride. Brown took his rare chance to partner a top horse for the stable but it was never going to come without pressure. He had to push Suyoof along steadily to get him into a decent early position and then had to time his run to fend off Ready To Run Cup-placed challenger Duke Nukem, handily weighted at 54,5kg.

Mathew said: “Good luck to Sherman, he had to nurse Suyoof along and then sat and waited before he pushed the button down the straight.”

Suyoof is a son of Magic Albert (Aus), who has sired four individual Gr1 winners Down Under. Magic Albert topped the sire averages in the Session II 2014 Inglis Easter Yearling Sale with five yearlings offered and all sold at an average $232,000.

At Kenilworth, Mike saddled another promising three-year-old Mooghamir (Gallileo) to a top-notch win in a MR78 Handicap over 1800m, considered as a pipe-opener with a view to the forthcoming Gr1 Cape Derby.

In his pre-race assessment of the race on Tellytrack, veteran horseman Stan Elley commented on Mooghamir’s magnificent looks and scope and also noted that trainer Brett Crawford’s runner Nebula was considered a potentially classic sort in the making.

As it turned out the smashing pair would fight it out, with Nebula cruising to the front under a “double handful” at the 400m mark before being reeled in doggedly and beaten a length by Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Akl Maktoum’s colt.

Jockey Anthony Delpech commented: “When Mooghamir saw Nebula sailing by, he woke up and took off after him. This was a notable win and he will improve more.”

Mike commented: “I like the way Mooghamir came back to beat Nebula. He’s a proper mile-and-half horse, he only got going properly at the 1800m mark. We brought him down to the Cape with Entisaar a few weeks ago and he settled very well here, based with Brett (Crawford) at Phillipi. He’s a horse that never stopped coughing back home but that seems to have stopped now.  We were considering the Derby for him and after this win we’ll be going for it.”