Musir All The Way
| Musir All The Way 17 January, 2012 – Lisa Barrett |
Champion trainer Mike de Kock got his 2012 Dubai Carnival campaign off to a winning start last week, when Musir took the Gr.3 Maktoum Challenge over 1660 m at Meydan. Running on his favourite surface, tapeta, he showed his class with an easy win ahead of stablemate and fellow De Kock runner, Master Of Hounds.
Considering he hasn’t raced since his victory in the Gr.2 Tokapi Trophy in Turkey in September of 2011, it makes his performance all the more impressive. He certainly has the pedigree and credentials to achieve greatness, but Musir hasn’t had it all his way.
Owned by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa al Maktoum, the six year old got off to a quiet start in his early racing career. His first victory coming in a Maiden Juvenile Plate at Clairwood in May 2009, and it was only after his victory in the Golden Horseshoe (Gr,1) on Durban July day in the same year, that people began to sit up and take notice of him. Crowned the Equus Champion Juvenile Colt of 2009, it was this sort of form that probably encouraged Mike de Kock to include him in his Dubai Carnival campaign in 2010, and so he made the trip to the desert kingdom, where he promptly landed the Group 3 UAE Guineas on 18th February at Meydan. The best was yet to come though, and on 28th March, he stormed home to claim a brilliant victory in the Group.2 UAE Derby from stablemate and much fancied filly, Raihana. In doing this he achieved a remarkable feat for trainer Mike De Kock, by giving him his 5th Derby win, the only other trainer to have one more victory is the legendary Saeed bin Suroor.
One thing that is beyond dispute is his impeccable pedigree, but where does his incredible sprinting ability come from? Musir is the son of Champion Australian stallion and multiple Group One winner, Redoute’s Choice, himself a winner on debut of the Listed Veuve Cliquot Stakes (over 1100 metres) in February 1999. Redoute followed up his impressive debut with another win seven days later in the prestigious Blue Diamond Stakes over 1200 metres. Musir’s mother is the lightly raced mare, Dizzy De Lago, herself a daughter of the Australian-bred Champion sire for 2008 & 2009 in Australia, Encosta Da Lago. You just have to look at the sprinting sensation, Sacred Kingdom, who shares the same grandsire as Musir to appreciate the potency of the strain of speed that runs through Musirs veins. Winner of two Hong Kong Sprints (Gr.1) in 2007 & 2009, and the Singapore version all in the same year, he has won more than $5 million in stakes money to date.
De Kock has not yet revealed his plans yet for Musir for his forthcoming campaign in Dubai, but it’s almost a certainty that he will feature in some form or another, barring injury. Possibly another crack at the UAE Derby? Thereby tying De Kock and Suroor on a phenomenal six wins a piece in this event.
The sky is the limit!
| Lisa Barrett – Guest Writer “Lisa Barrett”, her psuedonym, currently works at a stud farm in the KZN Midlands – a position she has held for the past eight years. She describes herself as “absolutely and totally besotted by horses” and she is in a fortunate position to work with a stallion she idolises every day. She describes herself as “continually fascinated by every aspect of the racehorse business, especially pedigrees!” |