Mdk’s first Australian winner as an owner
September 29, 2022
JP wins a Humdinger of a race!
October 3, 2022
Mike de Kock will be sending no fewer than 14 runners to the inside track at Turffontein Saturday. Some of them are being prepped for bigger goals later this season and he said: “We have been unable to try our runners on grass at Randjesfontein due to the unavailability of the track so we’ll have to use Saturday’s track at Turffontein as our exercise surface in the races themselves. I can’t give a massive amount of confidence for this meeting considering the runners are not where they should be at this time of the year.”
Mike’s comment on the individual runners are below:
Race 1: “Super World (Ideal World) is showing us nothing on sand and as noted we haven’t been able to go on grass, so only the race will show us where we are with her.”
Race 2: “Ponderosa Pine is nicely bred, she ran a fair race first time out but is still short of her best. She’ll enjoy this trip and further. Comes into play but will improve with the run.”
Race 3: “Angelsea has returned from her season in KwaZulu-Natal and is still fairly fit. She’s doing pretty well and warrants inclusion.”
Race 4: “Simple Simple comes off a good rest, she has spent some time in the paddock and her last run suggested that she has ability. Her level of fitness is not what it should be, but she shouldn’t be far off and bears watching. The newcomer Follow The Flow hasn’t shown much on sand. I’m not quite sure how she’ll go on grass but we’re running her because it’s a small field. I guess it’s a R400,000 grass gallop in this feature.”
Race 5: “Destiny Of Souls has always been a nice horse and won a good race last time out. He comes off sand, unfortunately with no grass work and with the going as it was I didn’t want to run my better three-year-olds until the tracks improved. A competitive field and hard to say how he’ll go. But he is decent, include for good measure. We have two first-timers here in Troix Troix Quatre (Rafeef) and Tyrconnel (The United States) – both nice horses that have caught the eye but again it’s a case of having to try them in a race on grass, we are not sure how they will go. Ones to keep an eye on.”
Race 6: “Desert Miracle runs in this feature after bleeding last time and she’s had no gallop on grass at all. We’re trying her in a tongue-tie, she’s done a lot of mileage on the sand but she’s going into the race underdone. The plan is to use this race as a stepping stone to other races, possibly a Cape campaign. Humdinger is well out at the weights but she is well and fairly fit. The conditions of the race allow us to run her, she won’t get penalized for running a place. She takes a big step up in class ad she’s looking more like a miler now, but we’d like to get black type out of her, hoping for a nice run.”
Race 7: “Forever Mine comes into the race off a good win last time, but there is a massive swing at the weights here with William Robertson. He is fit, which is key, has had a prep so should run very well.”
Race 8: “Run as One is capable on his day and he’s had a prep in Durban but I reckon he is a run short of his peak still. Defintely Maybe is poorly drawn and will need it coming off a rest, will improve.”
