Mike de Kock, the leading foreign trainer by total number of wins at the Dubai World Cup Carnival, has announced that he will thoroughly revise plans for his 2015 runners, following below-par performances from all his seven starters on the new dirt track at the opening meeting Jan 8.
De Kock, who also trained Mushreq (Aus) (Flying Spur {Aus}) and Sanshaawes (SAf) (Ashaawes) to run second and fourth, respectively, in the Listed Singspiel S. on turf, said on his website, “After tonight, we can be certain that there is a track bias, so now we know exactly where we stand. You can draw lines through all the poor sand runs. We will revise our initial Carnival strategies without delay. Unless there are absolutely no other options, we won't have another entry on dirt this season.”
He elaborated, “To win on this track, you need runners with good gate speed that can jump and lead or sit up second or third. […] The kickback from just behind the front rank is bad, the slower horses get it in the face and sometimes it's so severe that they battle to breathe.” De Kock however judged the new dirt surface as “very good” and expressed confidence that it would improve with rain and more racing.
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