White Pearl gets a fitting Grade 2 win!

Mike de Kock has mentioned a few times that White Pearl is good enough to win a Graded feature, and it was fitting that she finally put her hand up in a race that carries his name – the Grade 2 Mike de Kock Ipi Tombe Challenge over 1600m at Turffontein.

White Pearl is considered best up to 1400m – she was always going to need various factors to line up in her favour to win a tough mile – but so they did on this occasion, and she got up in a close finish under Piere Strydom from stablemate Silver Sanctuary, giving the stable the feature Exacta.

“The pace was fast early on, so I eased right back on White Pearl and she ran on well today,” said Strydom, who is retained in this final stretch of his illustrious career by the filly’s owners, the ASSM Syndicate. “It’s great to ride another Graded winner for Mike, who is a legend.”

White Pearl (Piere Strydom) with David Dlamini, Samuel Mbele and Oliver Strydom.

Mike returned the compliment, saying that Piere’s was a masterful ride. He recalled an occasion when he told ‘Striker’ he was the ‘Tiger Woods’ of South African jockeys and said: “I only said that once over a few whiskies, I didn’t want to spoil him!”

Mike thanked Arun Chadha and Warne Rippon on the ASSM Syndicate for being men who are passionate about racing and put their money down for it. “I am so pleased to train a feature winner for them, they deserve every success.”

Mike said he was still baffled by Silver Sanctuary’s poor run in the Summer Cup. “She almost came back to win a Grade 2 today. Sometimes one leaves the racetrack scratching your head.”

White Pearl was bred by Wilgerbosdrift and Mauritzfontein, from Mauritzfontein’s resident stallion Danon Platina, and Oyster Pond, by Tiger Ridge.