South Africa’s champion trainer Mike de Kock on another spectacular international success after Musir ran out the easy winner of the valuable International Topkapi Trophy (Gr 2) in Turkey on Sunday 4th September.
Ridden by French-based ace Christophe Soumillon, the De Kock-trained Musir justified his position as the red-hot favourite for this 1600m event at the Veliefendi racecourse in Istanbul, powering to a 3.5 lengths win over Godolphin’s representative Invisible Man. The 5yo son of Redoute’s Choice demolished seven rivals – four of them fellow European-based visitors – to win the first prize of approximately R2.3 million in the familiar yellow-and-blue silks of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al Maktoum.
Once again, Mike de Kock has done South Africa proud on the international stage, conquering yet another country and underlining once again the truly global nature of the horse racing business.
Musir’s international performances started with a trip to Dubai when flaunting his ability in the 2009 G1 Golden Horseshoe at Greyville, the bay was unbeaten during the 2010 Carnival at Meydan, and scooped the G3 UAE 2000 Guineas and G2 UAE Derby before spending 11 months on the sidelines. Returning at that venue to be second in the Listed Firebreak S. Feb. 10, he was in the same spot behind Twice Over (GB) (Observatory) in the Mar. 3 G2 Al Maktoum Challenge Round Three before finishing seventh after pulling too hard and meeting traffic in the Mar. 26 G1 Dubai World Cup. Third in the G1 Champions Mile at Sha Tin Apr. 25, he was unable to land a blow on Excelebration (Ire) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}) in Newbury’s G2 Hungerford S. over seven furlongs last time Aug. 13, but still had the subsequent G2 Celebration Mile scorer Dubawi Gold (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) behind, along with some proven pattern performers. Settled with two behind early by Christophe Soumillon, he crept close on the turn and, after hitting the front passing the quarter pole, hammered home his superiority.
