“I got a sense then for the first time how important these races are for South Africans and I actually felt pressure to the point that I didn’t want to sit in the room.” Mike de Kock speaks about how it feels to represent the hopes of a nation
After Variety Club’s decisive victory in the Champions Mile, Hong Kong Jockey Club CEO and Olympic Committee representative Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges provided manna to SA industry ears by saying ”If there was not already an incentive for the Asian Racing Federation to facilitate a better travel situation for South African horses to the great races of the world, then we saw one today.”
Hong Kong-trained horses have won each of the nine editions since the race was opened to overseas runners. Can Variety Club turn the tables?
Less than 2 hours till this year’s HK$14 million Audemars Piguet QEII Cup. The event has proved a profitable one for Mike de Kock who saddled two previous winners in Iridescence and Archipenko. He fields a strong double hander Vercingetorix and Sanshaawes. Will he lift the Cup a third time?
Britain has recently struck a trade deal with China enabling them to ship thoroughbreds freely between the two countries. One can only imagine the enormous numbers of horses China would require to sustain a racing industry in its infancy.
“There’s only two of us here who can ride the bottom weight. Joao can only ride one horse in the race so it gives me a chance and when I get the chance, I do my best and give it my all”
Why are we, the racing public being denied the opportunity to see the best horses from South Africa running on the world stage, and is enough being done to remedy the situation?
Any ideas for likely riders? Have your say
