Mike de Kock’s latest recruits have arrived in Dubai and are currently in quarantine in the UAE.

The group, comprising Ertijaal, Liquid Mercury, Tellina, Mutamakkin and Al Mashooqa, as well as two new acquisitions Eisenhower (USA) and Winkleman (IRE), have all arrived safely and will be in quarantine for five days.

Most of the horses were trained by De Kock in South Africa but he also received two new acquisitions in Tellina and Liqiud Mercury who have joined the string for the 2016 Dubai International Racing Carnival.

Liquid Mercury is a four-year-old grey gelding by Trippi raised at Drakenstein Stud. Formerly in the care of Joey Ramsden, he’s won five of 11 starts, including the Grade 3 Cape Winter Derby. He was also placed in the Grade 1 Cape Derby – third to another Dubai-bound, Ertijaal.

One of the leading runners of his generation, six-year-old Maine Chance-bred Tellina has only four wins to show from 25 runs, but the Silvano gelding is a quality type with a Grade 2 Gauteng Guineas and the Grade 3 Wolf Power Handicap to his name. He has showed his mettle against the best for trainer Geoff Woodruff and has been unlucky at times, getting places in among others, the Durban July (third and fouth in respective years); and the J&B Met (fourth).

De Kock said: “Liquid Mercury is a smart sort. He was purchased for the stable from Joey Ramsden’s yard by Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum, while the well-performed Tellina was given to us for this campaign by Dr Andreas Jacobs.”

– mikedekockracing.com

Picture: Ertijaal (Liesl King)

Piere Strydom had a relatively successful appeal against his 90-day ban, 50 of which was to be suspended for one year, for dropping his hands and getting caught on the line while riding Dublin Rebel at Turffontein on 27 August.

The race was won by Top Shot.

While pleading guilty to the charge, Strydom opted to appeal against the severity of the sentence and that was supported by the Appeal Board. The sentence was reduced to 25 days and will start on Friday, 11 December, as Strydom is committed to rides today at the Vaal and Thursday at Turffontein. .

That means he will not be able to ride in the Grade 1 Cape Guineas on 19 December but will be back in time for the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate at Kenilworth in January.

      TABNews

Picture: Piere Strydom (Nkosi Hlophe)

The Gavin van Zyl-trained R2,5 million Lanzerac Ready To Run Stakes winner Budapest passed his important stalls test yesterday and is on track for the Gr 1 Grand Parade Cape Guineas to be run on December 19 at Kenilworth.

Budapest, who is actually trained by Gavin’s son and assistant Gareth under the new compartmentalised structure of the Van Zyl yard, delayed the start of the Ready To Run Stakes after being stubborn and reluctant to load and consequently had his starting stall certificate withdrawn.

Budapest (Liesl King)

Gareth said he had jumped “very nicely” yesterday and consequently regained his starting stall certificate.

He confirmed that one never quite knew what one would get with this horse in terms of behaviour at the track.

However, he is being given the best preparation possible in this regard, on top of his training for the race, as the renowned “Horse Whisperer” Malan du Toit has been brought in to work with him. Gareth revealed Du Toit would be trying a new strategy next time at the track which he believed would be more effective.

Budapest, an athletic colt by the Mossel Bay-based stallion Lithuanian, is being taken care of in Cape Town by Brett Crawford at the Phillippi training centre.

Gareth will be flying down soon to put in the final touches.

Budapest will be taken for a gallop at Kenilworth on Wednesday this week.

He has drawn wide in 24 out of 29 entries, as opposed to his draw of five in the Lanzerac, so is not going to have it easy.

However, Gareth was not overly concerned and believed due to his fine gatespeed and handy racing style he would have a better chance of overcoming the draw than most horses would.

Budapest is the only Van Zyl-trained horse down in the Cape at present, although a long-time inmate from the yard, No Worries, will be trained for the Cape Summer Of Champions Season by Glen Kotzen before being returning to his Van Zyl Summerveld base.

No Worries (Nkosi Hlophe)

No Worries’ original aim had been the Gr 1 L’Ormarin’s Queen’s Plate, but Kotzen has changed course and will run him first in the Listed Jet Master Stakes over 1600m on December 19, then the Gr 2 Peninsula Handicap over 1800m on Queen’s Plate day January 9 before having a tilt at the J&B Met.

Kotzen is coming off a second-place finish with the Var filly Our Destiny in the Gr 1 WSB Cape Fillies Guineas. She proved what the yard had thought of her and cocked a snoot at both pundits, who didn’t give her the time of day before the race, and punters who allowed her to jump at odds of 100/1. Kotzen also pointed out she would likely have finished closer had she not been so green.

Kotzen has as high a regard for the Cape Fillies Guineas winner Silver Mountain as the rest of the racing fraternity do, and reckoned this star in the making looked likely to run in the Gr 1 Grand Parade Cape Guineas on December 19, considering her draw of two, before taking in the CTS Million Dollar on January 23. He believed this could open up the way for three-year-olds to have a chance in the Gr 1 Klawervlei Majorca Stakes, which is also to be run on January 23.

Kotzen does not share the popular opinion that the three-year-old fillies crop is overall a weak one, besides the obvious exception of Silver Mountain, and pointed to Princess Royal running less than a length behind the best female sprinter in the country, Carry On Alice, in Saturday’s Gr 2 WSB Southern Cross Stakes over 1000m.

By David Thiselton

Futura has been installed 22-10 favourite by World Sports Betting to become the first dual winner of the J & B Met since Pocket Power eight seasons ago.

Legislate, scratched from last year’s race because of a virus, is second favourite at 4-1 jointly with Sean Tarry’s SA Derby winner Legal Eagle. French Navy, who took the SA Classic and Daily News for Tarry, is next at 6-1 while the Brett Crawford-trained Horse Chestnut winner Captain America is on 8-1.

Master Sabina and Deo Juvente, first and second in the Sansui Summer Cup for Geoff Woodruff, are on 14-1 as is Bouclette Top. Paterfamilias and Same Jurisdiction are on 16-1 and it’s 20-1 and upwards others.

By Michael Clower

South African champion Gavin Lerena has a smart book of rides, according to local reporters, for the prestigious Longines International Jockeys’ Championship at Happy Valley (Hong Kong) on Wednesday night.

But it was In-form jockey Brett Prebble that expressed the most confidence after the allocation of rides and draws. After collecting the mounts on One Of A Kind, Strathearn, Jolly Posh and Ruby Coast, Prebble said: “We all know what Happy Valley is like and you can get the right horse but the wrong barrier and it makes it hard, but I think I’ve pulled some horses with serious winning chances and three of them have drawn inside gates,” he grinned. “I reckon I’m hard to beat.”

Gavin Lerena

Prebble’s take was a change on the usual, but three-time IJC winner Douglas Whyte was going in the other direction, singing from his preferred hymn sheet. “Someone will win it, but I don’t think it’s me,” he said after Business As Usual, The Sylph, King Of Household and Winnam were allocated to the South African who rides, like Prebble, Joao Moreira and Derek Leung Ka-chun, under the Hong Kong flag.

But another South African, Gavin Lerena, having his first shot at the series, looked to be a real contender after picking up the rides, if not the barrier draws.

Lerena’s first is a query mount, John Moore’s dirt specialist Happy Moments switching to the Valley for the first time, but Noble De Man, Mr Right and Superoi all look frontline chances in the last three legs, though all have drawn the Chinese lucky number barrier, eight. Mr Right and Superoi will even carry the saddlecloth number eight.

But, in a field containing only Whyte, Moreira and Moore who have won the series previously, there were cases being made for a number of different riders, including American Pharoah’s rider Victor Espinoza – second at his only previous appearance – and of course, Moreira.

The Magic Man pulled rides in the last two legs on which he already has a great record – Call Me Achiever, three rides for a win and two seconds, and Sparkling Sword, five rides for three wins.

Moreira was also allocated a likely improver in leg one, Entrusting. In the second leg he rides Valley winner, Addole, resuming for the season.

With jockeys scoring 12 points for a series leg win, six for second and four for third, winning a leg is an absolute must and having at least two good mounts looks essential to being a chance for the HK$500,000 first prize.

Since the series went to four legs in 2010 in an effort to prevent another triple dead-heat like the 2009 result, the magic number has been 24 points.

Ryan Moore (2010), Moreira (2012) and Yuichi Fukunaga (2014) all won with 24 points; 2011 winner Frankie Dettori (30) and 2013 winner Kerrin McEvoy (18) were the exceptions.

–          South China Morning Post (Alan Aitken)