Betway Ambassador Mike de Kock and son, Mathew de Kock, ended the 2024/5 season on a high with a Grade 1 win, courtesy of Jan Van Goyen, who posted an impressive success in the Premiers Champion Stakes at
HWB Greyville.
The new partnership’s official statistics were excellent for what in effect was just half of the season. They saddled 42 winners and 123 placed runners between February and August for gross stake earnings, of R8,723,950 and, remarkably, a Top 10 position on the National Trainers Log.
They started the partnership on a high when Spumante Dolce won the Grade 2 Wilgerbosdrift Guineas and, in between, Dave The King won the Grade 1 Gold Challenge for a second time. They also prepared the winners of 19 two-year-old races, and no other trainer collected more Juvenile Stakes bonuses.
On his own, Mike saddled 38 winners before they joined forces. Their combined figures would have given a Top 5 position this season, and they’ll be aiming at that, and better, in 2025/6. Mat said: “We look forward to the 2025/6 season. Our goals are to have as many winners as we can, to win as many big races as we can and to ensure that our owners enjoy a great client experience.”
M&M were off the mark for the new term when Gotta Go Eddie won his Maiden on the Polytrack at HWB Greyville last week. Mat is hoping that Clever Trevor can boost their early tally on Saturday at Turffontein, where racing will take place on the standside track.
Clever Trevor takes part in Race 1 over 1,160m and Mat commented: “Clever Trevor has made nice improvement on his first run. He looks hard to beat, I suppose. Ideally, we would have liked a 1400m for him, but the programme didn’t allow for it. We’re happy with his preparation and he could get away with it for now.”
The second runner on the day is the grey filly
, Great Notion, who lines up in
Race 7 over 1400m. This is the course and distance of her only career win so far, and she returns after a few fair sprints. “She’s been slightly disappointing,” said Mat, “but her work is very good. This is a more suitable distance and she should be included in all bets.”
The meeting at HWB Kenilworth, originally scheduled for Sunday has been moved to Wednesday, 13 August. To fill the Sunday gap, Monday’s meeting at HWB Scottsville has been brought forward, and a nine-race programme will be completed.
The De Kock stable has a single runner,
Ingqwele, in Race 8, the topliner of the day over 1200m. “He’s had a little freshen up and he’s doing pretty well in his work at home. He’s probably at his best around a mile so this is too sharp. But he’s in a good space, he could run on into the back end of Quartets.”
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The weekend’s global racing highlight is the Shergar Cup meeting that takes place at Ascot in the UK. Asia, Europe, Great Britain and Ireland, and The Rest of the World will compete for the annual Shergar Cup Trophy in a six-race competition, and each team has three jockeys.
Betway has priced up on the meeting, it’s an open card and there is plenty of value to be had all round. This meeting traditionally delivers a few upsets so there are opportunities for astute form students to cash in.
Former South Africa-based jockey, Karis Teetan, represents the ‘Rest Of The World Team’, looks to have winning chances in Race 1 on Venture Capital and in Race 2 on Almuhit. Both are attractively priced at 7-1 on the Betway boards.
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