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Mike de Kock received an ARCSA Award for champion filly Evening Mist in 1989. The owners are, from left to right: Peter Sargent, Peter Muller, Colin Dunn, Ben Fourie.
Background:
MIKE de Kock (41) was not born into a racing family, but his love for the thoroughbred goes back to his early youth, when he spent every available minute observing raceday procedures at Newmarket racecourse in his home town of Alberton, South Africa.
Mike’s family lived 500m from the racetrack, and Mike satisfied his curiosity by visiting stables in the area, studying race forms and listening to commentaries on radio.
In 1981, he was drafted into the Equestrian Unit of the SA Defence Force where he became a riding instructor and held the rank of corporal. He prepared horses for combat and also for Endurance races.
He started his career in horseracing as an assistant to former SA Champion trainer Ormond Ferraris, before moving on to trainer Robbie Sage and later to trainer Ricky Howard-Ginsberg. When Ginsberg died in 1989, Mike was left to take over the yard at age 25.
He won his first Grade 1 race within months: The Administrator's Champion Stakes (now the Summer Cup; R400,000) with four-year-old filly Evening Mist, and hasn’t looked back since.
Top quality winners trained in the 1990s include Haiku, Astropower, Straight Edge, Silver Series, Holyfield, Stamford Bridge, Barellen, Rarotonga Treaty, Stride Ahead, Golden Hoard, Patchouli Dancer, Smart Money and Spook Express.
Recent record:
Mike de Kock won his first South African Trainers' Championship Title in the 1998/99 season, training 106 winners for (at the time) all-time record stake earnings of R10,214,488. This was R3 million clear of second-placed David Ferraris, himself a multiple champion trainer.
In 1995 De Kock became the trainer of choice for the leading Oppenheimer family, an association that has produced tremendous success, culminating in the by now legendary performances of their star colt, Horse Chestnut, regarded by the majority of racing experts as the best horse ever to have raced in South Africa. Horse Chestnut raced in South Africa between 1997 and 1999 and in the U.S.A. in January 2000.
 
Delta Form, winner of the 2001 R2 Million Summer Cup at Turrfontein.
Mike regards the planning and executing of Horse Chestnut’s American campaign as one of the highlights of his career. Horse Chestnut was prepared in Ocala and Miami and he won his first and only start, the Group 3 Broward Handicap at Gulfstream Park (US$100,000) by five lengths. Horse Chestnut now stands at stud at Claiborne Farm, Kentucky.
 
Horse Chestnut won his only start in the USA, the Group 3 Broward Handicap, by 5 lengths.
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Horse Chestnut in his barn at Clairborne Stud Farm in Paris, Kentucky. |
The late Harry Oppenheimer and Bridget Oppenheimer with Mike de Kock after the Broward Handicap. |
In South Africa, he has won almost every major race at least once, including the Vodacom July with Ipi Tombe (2002) and Greys Inn (2004), the J&B Met with Horse Chestnut (1999) and Badger’s Coast (2000) and the R2 million Summer Cup a record 6 times, most recently with Wolf Whistle (2003).
Horse Chestnut also became the only horse so far to win the South African Triple Crown.
Other top horses trained in the 2000s include Victory Moon, Lundy's Liability, Ilha Da Vitoria, Greys Inn, Angelina, Otter Trail, Escoleta Fitz, Velvet Green, Kimberley Mine, Ingleside, Badger’s Coast, Gang Related, Fort Defiance, Domino Man, Warning Zone, Grand Emporium and Delta Form.
Horse Chestnut became the first three-year-old in 45 years to win the J&B Met, when he cruised in by 8 lengths in 1999. (G. Potter)
Dubai 2003:
Mike made the headlines and catapulted himself into the ranks of the greats by winning two $US2 million races on Dubai World Cup day, 2003.
This was his first season in Dubai and he saddled 7 winners from 18 runners, including Ipi Tombe (ZIM) who won three races in the UAE including the Grade 1 $US2 million Dubai Duty Free on Dubai World Cup Night. He also won the Grade 2 $US2 million UAE Derby on World Cup Night with Victory Moon (SAF), who was selected at a yearling sale in South Africa. Victory Moon won two legs of the Triple Crown in Dubai and finished second in the other leg. He also competed in the UK in 2003.
Mike finished second to Godolphin on the overall Dubai trainers’ log with DH723 000 and approximately $US2,6 million in stakes.
He has since set up a permament satellite barn at Grandstand Stables in Dubai.
Dubai 2004:
When everyone thought Mike de Kock couldn’t improve on his Dubai results from 2003, he saddled 11 more winners and almost trebled his stake earnings in the Dubai racing season for 2004.
Included in his winners were Victory Moon, who lifted two legs of the Maktoum Challenge, Crimson Palace, who was sold to Sheik Mohammad after an impressive victory, Lundy’s Liability, who won the UAE Derby, giving Mike a Derby double in successive years, and Right Approach, who secured Mike’s second successive win in the Dubai Duty Free.
TRAINING SKILLS:
Free-thinking and progressive, Mike trains at the Randjesfontein Training Centre, north of Johannesburg. He has a South African satellite base at Summerveld in Kwazulu-Natal, and another satellite yard in Dubai, UAE.
He believes in constant and never-ending improvement through research, and his success rate shows an upwardly spiralling movement. In his first season (1988/89), he trained 24 winners; in 1990/91 he pushed it to 47 winners, in 1994/5 he had 57 winners; in 1996/7 the tally was 68 winners and, in 1998/9, 106 winners. In the 2000/2001 season he ended with a tally of 102 winners and last season (2003/4) he saddled a career record 136 winners.
Mike uses a personal strategy of “complete fitness”, and trains by a motto of ``the overall well-being of a horse’’.
Experience in developing horses obtained prior to racing:
Examples of horses selected and bought on behalf of clients as yearlings:
VICTORY MOON (Multiple Group 2 winner in Dubai, third in 2004 $US6 million Dubai World Cup)
RECORD EDGE (Multiple Grade 1 winner in South Africa)
GOLDEN HOARD (Multiple Grade 1 winner in South Africa, including Guineas)
DOMINO MAN (Grade 1 winner, Guineas)
ESCOLETA FITZ (10-time winning mare, including Grade 1)
STORMY HILL (Aus) (Grade 1 winner in South Africa)
EMERALD BEAUTY (Arg) (Grade 1 winner in South Africa and Dubai)
WOLF WHISTLE (Grade 1 winner of Summer Cup 2003)
Examples of other horses obtained from clients and successfully trained:
HORSE CHESTNUT (Triple Crown winner in South Africa, Group 3 winner in USA from only start. Retired to stud, Claiborne Farm)
IPI TOMBE (Multiple Grade 1 winner in South Africa and Dubai, including the Vodacom July and the Dubai Duty Free.
SPOOK EXPRESS (Multiple Grade 1 winner in South Africa, exported to the US, finished 2nd in Breeders Cup Distaff)
DOG WOOD (Champion three-year-old filly and Grade 1 winner, including Cape Derby beating colts)
GREYS INN (Winner of 2004 SA Derby and Vodacom July)
LUNDY’S LIABILITY (Winner of the 2004 $US2 million UAE Derby)
Experience in developing tried racehorses:
IPI TOMBE (ZIM)
Came to Mike as a four-time winning three-year-old from Zimbabwe. He won another seven races with her, including the Grade 1 Vodacom Durban July and the Group 1 Dubai Duty Free. Exported to the US and recently sold for $US1,7 million in foal to Saddler’s Wells.
DELTA FORM (AUS)
Came to Mike as a two-time winner. Unbeaten in four starts for Mike, including the R2 million Grade 1 Summer Cup. Exported to the US.
SMART MONEY
Came to Mike as a four-year-old. Won 7 of 18 starts in his care, including two Grade 1 races.
HARMONY FOREVER
Won the Grade 2 Greyville 1900 in his second start for Mike. Retired a stallion.
INGLESIDE
Taken over as a six-year-old. Four successive Grade 1 wins, including Summer Cup.
RIGHT APPROACH
Taken over from Sir Michael Stoute, Right Approach won the 2004 $US2 million Dubai Duty Free.
GRAND EMPORIUM
Taken over from Weiho Marwing, Grand Emporium won the 2005 $US1 million Godolphin Mile. |