MIKE de Kock said that Janoobi had “booked his spot to Dubai” following his win in Saturday’s Gr2 Daisy Guineas (Gr2) by 1,75-lengths after spending almost the entire race fighting jockey Piere Strydom.

From what we’ve seen of Janoobi this season, he was bound to be perfectly suited to the mile at Greyville. He’d run fourth to William Longsword in the CTS Mile and then defeated promising Al Sahem in the Gr2 Guineas over the tough Turffontein mile, leading from gun to tape.

Janoobi (Piere Strydom) with John Buckler (left) and groom Dumisani.

“When he drew one and considering his form we knew this would be an ideal race for him,” Mike commented on Monday.

Strydom said the same after he’d won the race and conveyed his thanks for being kept on the colt – though this was a ride in which the veteran really had to earn his fees.

“Janoobi just pulled himself to the front and after a while his mouth went hard, he wouldn’t stop pulling so I let him go a bit to get clear in the straight. I thought he wouldn’t keep going after pulling so hard, but he kept giving more,” Strydom said.

On the video replay, ‘Striker’ seems more in control than he admitted to have been – in fact it looks like a typical Strydom front-running ride and Janoobi responds again when shown the whip for the first  time at the 100-mark.

Race in the bag, all the same, and Mike said that the Gr1 Rising Sun Gold Challenge at Greyville was the only possible race left for Janoobi to contest.

Janoobi rounded off a wonderful weekend for Sheikh Hamdan of Dubai following his two Gr1 wins at Turffontein on Champions Day.

Janoobi was a R1,2 million Cape Premier Yearling Sale Book 1 graduate. He has won 5 races with 2 places from 11 starts for stakes of R1 982 500.

Bred by Maine Chance Farms, he is by Silvano out of the well related unraced Rakeen mare, Shasta Daisy.