Betway’s horseracing ambassadors, Mike de Kock and Sean Tarry, are preparing for the 2024/5 racing season following successful campaigns in the 2023/4 term that concluded last week.
Tarry finished second to Justin Snaith in the race for the National Title and said: “We have a group of staunch patrons behind us again, including a few who are new to racing. We’re set for a good new term with horses like Lucky Lad, Proceed, Cosmic Prince and Legend Of Arthur. My goal is to develop and maximise the career potential of every runner in my care.”
De Kock finished fourth on 78 winners and took his career tally to an estimated 3765 winners, which is more than 300 clear of Snaith, who has the second highest number of winners. Mike should be able to reach a milestone 4000 winners in the next three seasons, though he has cut back his string significantly to focus on quality over quantity.
Mike commented: “We’ll have a boutique string of around 60 horses, based in Gauteng and Durban. I will also be raiding Cape Town. We have a few young runners that will come through the ranks in the Highveld spring and summer, and Dave The King will remain our biggest hope to land a major feature. He has developed into a high-class act. It’s hard to imagine him getting any better. He was fantastic last season. His aim will be the 2025 King’s Plate, with the Cape Met as an option after that.”
Mike will be visiting Australia over the next few weeks and there won’t be many of his runners competing in August. They will re-appear again in September ahead of the Highveld spring season.
The race meeting scheduled for Kenilworth on Saturday has been cancelled due to more heavy rain in Cape Town. There is a possibility that the meeting planned for Tuesday will have to be moved to Wednesday. Cape Racing said on Friday that extra races will be added to the programme over the next several weeks to make up for lost meetings.
Weekend punters will be focusing on the meetings at Turffontein on Saturday and HWB Greyville on Sunday.
Jockey Keagan De Melo, on his seasonal break from racing in Hong Kong, will be in action at Turffontein. He has been booked for a number of good rides by Johan Janse van Vuuren and other trainers and could get off the mark in Race 1 over 1000m aboard Bakwena. This first-timer by Gimmethegreenlight has been whispered about and is likely to dispute favouritism with another newcomer, Ono No Komachi.
De Melo rides High Queue for Clinton Binda in Race 3 over 1600m. This lightly-raced gelding has improved since being fitted with blinkers and he should go close from an inside draw.
Janse van Vuuren’s Strewn Sky (Race 5, 1800m) is another who looks hard to beat. Strewn Sky’s tendency to be slow off the mark has undoubtedly cost him a few wins in the past, but he has a powerful finish and if De Melo can get him to bounce from the pens with a bit more enthusiasm, he should win it.
Joe Soma’s Brave Viking is a useful sort when he puts his mind to it and Soma will also be relying on De Melo to extract the best from this gelding in Race 8 over 1400m. The trainer has added blinkers and a tongue tie to Brave Viking’s racing equipment.
The best bet on a challenging card at HWB Greyville could be Peter Muscutt’s runner Trusova in Race 5 over 2000m. He drops a division in class following good recent runs to the highly regarded Vihaan’s Bomb. His wide draw should not be a factor over this distance and he, too, will have blinkers fitted for better focus.
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