Mike looks forward to every Durban July Grey's Inn, Mike's 2004 July winner, now a stallion. NICCI GARNER: DURBAN - His horses have excelled in exotic locations like Meydan Racecourse in Dubai, Sha Tin in Hong Kong, Kranji in Singapore and Ascot in the UK, but the Vodacom Durban July trophy is still a piece of silverware that trainer Mike de Kock covets. "Every season every South African trainer targets the Durban July. It’s certainly a race I set out to win," says the man many rank among the best racehorse trainers in the world. De Kock, 46, has won the July twice before with Ipi Tombe in 2002 and Greys Inn in 2004. So you’d think winning the race would be old hat to him. It’s not. "Obviously my second July was not quite as special as the first. The first is like your first kiss, like wow! But Greys Inn’s win was satisfying. "I get a kick out of winning any race, and every Grade 1 is special. Perhaps it’s the spectacle of the July that makes it even nicer?" De Kock will saddle a record seven runners in the R3-million Durban July next Saturday, 31 July, and that’s something not even he could have envisaged when the current racing season started last August. Only two of the seven were with him then – Rudra, who was then on the injury list, and Happy Valley. However, his potent ability for tuning horses to the minute and an unerring eye for potential have brought him five more July runners – ruling favourite Irish Flame, Bold Silvano, Ancestral Fore, Lizarre and Red Rake, who joined the yard less than three weeks ago. He refuses to pick one over another, saying, "Red Rake’s the one I know the least about – I haven’t had him long enough to get much of a feel for him. But the others are all nice individuals. Very different from each other, but quite straightforward, thank goodness. I have no preference. I just want to win the race." De Kock, respectfully called " De Kock, respectfully called "The Boss" by stable jockey Kevin Shea, certainly does not believe his third July trophy is in the bag. "At the weights there are 13 other horses in with big chances," he says. "The July is a handicap where every runner should have an equal chance of winning. So while I have the numbers, which gives me better percentages, it guarantees me absolutely nothing." The horse he fears most is Mike Bass’s River Jetez. "Whatever beats her will win," he says. The other trainers with runners in the race have a right to fear him. His international achievements this year include a 1-2 with Musir and Raihana in the UAE Derby and Lizard’s Desire’s victory in the Singapore Airlines International Cup. Locally he has won eight Grade 1 races and is cruising towards his fifth SA trainers’ title with his runners having earned a record R18-million. De Kock, who is a near scratch golfer, confirmed: "It’s been a terrific season all round, much better than we expected. "But this type of success doesn’t happen overnight. I have a brilliant team around me and some fantastic patrons who I enjoy training for. And we all get a thrill out of each and every success."