De Kock Plans Dubai Return – But This Time, There’s Two

De Kock Plans Dubai Return – But This Time, There’s Two

The news that Mike De Kock is set to return to Dubai has been met with delight by the many racing fans who consider him synonymous with the early days of the Dubai Racing Carnival.

The South African is the Carnival’s most successful international trainer, with 186 UAE wins, including a G1 Sheema Classic, a G1 Dubai Turf, a G1 Al Quoz Sprint and six G2 UAE Derbies. However, it all came to an end in 2022 when the travails of exporting horses from South Africa due to the African Horse Sickness regulations became too much. That, thankfully, is now in the past and De Kock – now training in partnership with his son Mathew, is excited about Dubai 2:0.

“It’s always been the plan to come back, it’s just a matter of physically getting there, getting the horses,” explains De Kock. “Movement out of South Africa these days is fairly straightforward; the only hiccup is numbers – you’ve got to have a full flight – so we’ve got to hitch on with Showjumpers, Endurance horses etc.

“That’s why we’re sourcing in Argentina and hopefully we’ll get a few training in England just to kick off with.”

At the time of speaking, plans centre around Colorado Del Monte, a dual G1 winner in Argentina who has been purchased by Vermaak Equine specifically for Dubai.

“He looks a really nice horse,” says De Kock of the three-year-old. “Hopefully he will be good enough for the three-year-old Classic races which we’ve gone through with Asiatic Boy and Honor Devil, among others.

Asiatic Boy, who remains the only UAE Triple Crown winner, and fellow UAE Derby winner Honor Devil were both trained from Blue Stables, but this time the De Kock Dubai base will look a little different.

“We’ve applied for International Stables,” he says. We’re not going to have a permanent staff; Mathew and I will be backwards and forwards. If they’re good enough we’d ideally like to send horses onto the USA after the Carnival. We [South Africa] have had quite a bit of success there of late and we’d certainly like to continue that.”

De Kock’s success in Dubai was partly down to Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum, for a long time his main patron. His yellow and blue silks were seen on Asiatic Boy as well G1 Dubai World Cup runner-up Mubtaahij and plenty more.

“Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa was always an enthusiastic and staunch supporter of the stable and the Carnival and it would be lovely to see him back competing with a nice three-year-old in the Derby,” he says.

De Kock will also be looking close to home for horses and is confident South African owners will support the venture.

“We’ve got support from Hollywoodbets – Laurence Wernars – but that’s just the initial backing,” he explains. “Hopefully a few others will piggyback off that and see the value in what we’re doing.”

De Kock has arguably been the main man to put South African bloodstock on the map, internationally, and that remains important to him.

“The thing with racing is that there’s short memories,” he says. “I’ve always been determined to get the South African Thoroughbred out there and exposed to the international market, which we need to do again. We’ve had some really good success in America lately with [G2 winner] Gimme A Nother and [G1 placed] One Stripe and our horses are certainly really capable when we get a good one.”

De Kock is also mindful of the advantages of using Meydan as a training base for running elsewhere in the Middle East.

“There’s really good opportunities in that region; other GCC countries are racing at a high level, offering good prize money. If we’re going racing in those countries we expose the South African Thoroughbred and hopefully it will kindle a bit of interest from them to come down and have a look at our sales, have a look at our horses in training.

“It’s an extremely important thing, but in life you have to keep going back – out of sight is out of mind and that has been the problem for us since probably 2017-2018. It’s reminding people that the South African Thoroughbred is out there and very capable.”

De Kock is looking forward to working alongside Mathew, now a huge part of the operation at home in South Africa.

“The important thing is that we are coming back as partnership – it’s a father and son combo these days,” he says. “Before it was just me and Mathew was a young man, but he’s got a lot of experience in Australia and he brings a lot to the table, so we’re looking forward to racing as a partnership.”

UAE racing fans will need little reminding of De Kock’s success at Nad Al Sheba and Meydan which began in the early 2000s and was cemented when Ipi Tombe [G1 Dubai Duty Free] and Victory Moon [G2 UAE Derby] secured a memorable double at the 2003 Dubai World Cup meeting.

“The first World Cup nights were mind-boggling,” reflects De Kock. “But [2008 G1 Dubai Sheema Classic winner] Sun Classique was for me something really special. Watching Warne and Wendy Rippon watching their horse throughout the Carnival and living the dream with us.

“[2013 G1 Al Quoz Sprint winner] Shea Shea was another one who was really special I thought. Those are the two that really stand out.”

It’s the people, too, who bring back good memories for De Kock, whose ‘South African parties’ during World Cup week are the stuff of legend.

“Dubai has been a happy hunting ground for us and it’s a place we love coming to,” continues De Kock. “A lot of South Africans love going there and hopefully we’ll have a couple of horses good enough for World Cup night, which will bring the numbers back.

“We used to have some wonderful tours. 30,40, even 80 people coming from South Africa to Dubai on a World Cup tour. If we can get that back, it will be fantastic.”