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Dubai star Archipenko continues De Kock’s incredible run |
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5/1/2008 2:23:04 PM |
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Archipenko, one of the stars of the Dubai International Racing Carnival, is now set to line up at Royal Ascot following his victory in the Audemars Piguet QEII Cup at Sha Tin, a Press release said.
The South African-trained raider, who landed the Al Fahidi Fort before finishing an eye-catching third in the Dubai Duty Free, had a comfortable length and three-quarters to spare over French-trained outsider Balius with Hong Kong star Viva Pataca, who was second in the Dubai Sheema Classic (sponsored by Nakheel), eclipsed in third.
Mike de Kock, who again was crowned leading international trainer at the 2008 DIRC, is also becoming an increasingly familiar figure at Hong Kong’s International meetings.
The South African maestro won his race two years ago with Irridescence, but despite well-reported confidence from the trainer this week it was Viva Pataca that dominated the talk beforehand, meaning Archipenko entered the Group 1 showpiece as one of the outsiders.
The four-year-old winner had raced just 11 times before and had only joined De Kock’s yard in December and has now stamped himself a serious player on the world stage, something confirmed by the time of the 2000-metre race, a super-swift 2 minutes 0.8 seconds.
As predicted, the New Zealander Sir Slick went for the early lead, but he had to battle for that position with Viva Macau. Turning into the stretch there were a whole clutch of chances but in the final 200m all the attention focused on the surging Archipenko, with the late charge of Balius grabbing second place off Viva Pataca late on.
“I know it might sound crazy after winning a Group 1 race, but I think he is still improving and he can go and win another one. We’ll be thinking about him in terms of Royal Ascot but I’m not sure what race we will target there yet,” winning trainer De Kock said.
“We haven’t had the horse very long and he has needed to fill out. He settled in well at our stables in Dubai and I guess a change is as good as a holiday in many respects. I’m hoping he can continue on this upward spiral because he is still improving both mentally and physically.”
Reflecting on how the race was won, jockey Kevin Shea said: “He settled nicely and it suited him having no horse on his outside. He prefers to have some daylight. When I pulled him out in the straight I gave him a couple of cracks and I knew that it would take a special one to beat us.
“I would agree with what Mike says about this horse being able to go and win another major race like this. He’s more mature and more muscled and he seems to have settled better with the blinkers on him.”
Archipenko is owned by Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum in partnership with De Kock, Dr Ashley and Rose Parker, Jehan Malherbe, Dr. John McVeigh and Hugo Merry.
Quijano, who was fourth in the Dubai Sheema Classic finished fifth.
His jockey Andrasch Starke said: “We had a perfect position but when it came to the straight he had no more. Yes, maybe the distance was too short but maybe he was a bit tired too after his Dubai run.” Earlier, Hong Kong’s Good Ba Ba won his fourth Group 1 race in a row for trainer Andreas Schutz when he took the Champions Mile — the third leg of the Asian Mile Challenge — in emphatic style under Olivier Doleuze. |
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Source: Khaleejtimes.com |
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