Golden Champ

Pocket Power added the illustrious Gold Challenge to his trophy cabinet this Saturday when overcoming a top field in the group 1 classic, and now appears to have the Durban July at his mercy in three weeks time.

This race has eluded him in the past after finding himself too far back on both occasions, but he finally set the record straight with a dominant galloping display from a much handier position to win by a length under a superb ride from Bernard Fayd’Herbe despite the late flying Kapil. As expected, River Jetez got going well in the closing stages to finish third just ahead of the pace setting Blue Tiger who ran a remarkable race in this company.

Handier running style

Touted of late as his new style of racing. We’ve had him a lot handier than usual his last few runs, leaving him a lot less to do in the straight.

His somewhat languid demeanor had always suggested that switching him off towards the rear was the best approach, but his kick seems instantaneous regardless of pace, position or distance and it just makes far more sense to keep him in the race from the start. Granted his draw will play a vital role in the July, but Fayd’Herbe would have realised that he has a lot more options at his disposal than previously thought, and this is encouraging.

There leaves little to be said about this phenomenal racehorse that has not already been seen, and it is just a great privilege as a racing fan to watch him consistently deliver time and time again.

The report from the Durban yard is that he ate up well on Saturday night and trotted out sound on Sunday morning which is very encouraging.  As a trainer the hard work is done, but the most important work lies ahead, as Mike carefully tick’s him over the next three weeks in order to prime him to peak performance for the most important date of the season.

Congrats to Marsh who owns a share in all three of our runners and of course to Arthur and Rina Webber who own a share in Pocket Power. The big horse shows no sign of impeding as he fast approaches the age of seven. “Physically, however, he has begun to show signs of a slight middle aged spread” said Mike pointing him out on parade this Saturday.” Its only natural that he has begun to show these signs” said Mike, but he continues to prove his ability on track, and that’s most important thing, I may have to just have him a little more stripped going into the July this year.

River Jetez was equally encouraging in her performance and this run will have brought her on to prime fitness. She receives an additional 4kg from PP in the July and must remain a key threat in this years running.

It seems we have finally got to the bottom of Blue Tiger who was allowed to stride with out restrain in Saturdays mile. Largely kept to sprints, he has proved that left to stride out at his own galloping pace, he is a danger at the highest level over middle distances as well, and this opens many doors for us in time to come.