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Dubai minister to buy Wragg's old yard |
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1/27/2009 10:24:13 AM |
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Mike de Kock, the South African whose success around the world has established him as one of the best trainers in international racing, said Sunday that one of his major owners has "an agreement in principle" to buy Abington Place Stables in Newmarket from Geoff Wragg.
The deal to sell the historic yard to Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum will not be signed until next month, but De Kock expects to be based in the main yard at Abington Place for the British Flat season, with a team of around 20 horses to contest top-class races through the year.
The sheikh is the minister of land affairs in Dubai, and is a first cousin of Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum, the founder of the Godolphin organisation. De Kock, 44, has been South Africa's champion trainer five times, but it is his achievements outside his native country that have gained him widespread recognition and respect.
He saddled a double on Dubai World Cup night in 2003, and has dominated the Carnival meeting there in recent years with a strike-rate of 22 per cent. Last season he saddled Eagle Mountain --in Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa's yellow and blue silks-- to finish second in the Breeders' Cup Turf, and then win the valuable Hong Kong Cup at Sha Tin.
"The agreement has been made in principle, but the documents will not be signed until February," De Kock said yesterday from Dubai. "We will still have the same game plan that we had [in Britain] last year, nothing will change there really, but it will just give us a bit more of a permanent base. The plan will be to have 20 horses in the main yard, with a view to racing globally.
"We don't want any more than that, because we want to be competitive at the top level, and if the day comes when we don't have enough horses that will be competitive at that level, we won't be there. The big meetings are really what it's all about. The big meetings in Britain are just fantastic to race at. It's something that any trainer would strive to do, and I'm very lucky that I'm able to do it."
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Source: Trinidadexpress.com |
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