De Kock on Dubai
MIKE de Kock has only two horses participating in Saturday’s Dubai World Cup meeting at Meydan Racecourse and he feels both are capable of at least placing in their respective races.
Janoobi, winner of the Grade 2 Gauteng Guineas last year, is carded to race in the $5-million Dubai Turf (Group 1) over 1 800m while SA Derby winner and Vodacom Durban July runner-up Al Sahem will run in the Grade 2 Dubai Gold Cup over 3 200m.
De Kock had a chat to Andrew Bon about his expectations for Saturday’s world’s richest raceday with prize money of $30 million.
“Janoobi has done very well in Dubai,” said De Kock. “He has actually thrived. He’s a horse we took expecting to be competitive and did not quite know if he was good enough to win a Group 2 which he did. And he won at a high level. There were some properly smart horses around him.
“When he got beat in the Al Fahidi Fort, the winner, Jungle Cat, came out and won a Group 3 so the form is pretty good. Not much went his way last time but he was dogged in the finish. He put his head down and he wanted to be there.”
Janoobi has been doing quite a bit of racing recently but De Kock is not overly concerned. “He’s been on the boil for a long time but he’s a tough horse and he’s flown the South African flag with pride.
“It’s just a matter of keeping him happy and fit. He’s a very, very happy horse at the moment.”
Al Sahem has yet to win a race in Dubai but he did kick on well last time in the Group 2 Dubai City Of Gold over 2 400m when fifth behind Hawkbill. “Al Sahem is coming along nicely,” said De Kock.
“He did run to his rating last time. It’s a very tough division – a mile and a half (2400m) and more. He won over 2450m at Turffontein and he stayed the 2200m in the July at Greyville so we’re going to go for the marathon. He’s not good enough to run in the mile and a half (2 400m) at Group 1 level.
“You get horses out there who have won Coral Eclipses and Group 1s in Europe. You’re not going to beat them, you’ve got no chance. So we’re going to run him in the 3 200m but we’re fit, we’re well.
“He’s a very sound horse, apart from the wind (breathing) issue.”
Speaking about the Carnival and looking ahead to next year, De Kock added: “It’s very competitive here but that’s good, it’s what it should be. Godolphin showed this year that if you bring the right horses how much success you can have.
“If I could take five Janoobis we would be where Godolphin are. We took a conscious decision not to ship young horses. It’s pointless trying to run them on the dirt. I’ve got horses like Alfolk and Mujaafy in quarantine at the moment.