Gold Circle Pty (Ltd)

Today's Racing :

Pocket Power - a real champion

“He’s a real champion. He proves it every time.”
These were the words of top jockey Bernard Fayd’Herbe as he climbed down from his history-making ride aboard thoroughbred superstar Pocket Power on January 9. The horse had just landed his fourth consecutive win in the Grade 1 L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate. No other horse has won the race on more than two occasions – so to clock up four wins in four years is spectacular.
Pocket Power’s ability to keep rewriting horseracing history is what’s now driving the buzz around this horse to new heights. On Saturday, he lines up again for the prestigious Grade 1 J&B Met at Kenilworth Racecourse, another race he has made his own in the last three years. So a win this year will mean another four-in-a-row for him at horseracing’s highest level of competition.
Surely no other horse has achieved four straight victories in the same two Grade 1 events in the same four years?
Impossible? Not if you look at the history of this seemingly evergreen 7-year-old. Pocket Power has won every race he’s attempted for distances of 1500 meters and longer at Kenilworth. It’s a clean 15 out of 15 record, so a 16th looks more than reasonably within his grasp.
What’s more, he’s a multiple winner at Grade 1 level all around the country – even notching up the Vodacom Durban July two seasons back. And he’s a three-time South African Horse of the Year.
But where the real sweet spot lies for Cape horseracing fans is that Pocket Power is distinctly a local hero. He’s spent his career in the hands of legendary Cape-based trainer Mike Bass, so Kenilworth is 100% home turf. So it won’t be just the money interest that shouts him home on Saturday – it’ll be throat-catching emotion. No doubt even the most hardened racegoer will spill a tear if Pocket Power wins again this year. We all love a champion.
And let’s not imagine it’ll have been an easy task if he does win. The J&B Met is one of the toughest competitions in the country, attracting nothing less than the best of the best among current thoroughbred stars. They’ll all be there trying their hardest to deny Pocket Power his supreme place in history.
If he takes the sash, you’ll have witnessed the making of a true legend.

> Tote betting on next Saturday’s R2,5-million J&B Met opens Monday, January 25. Customers who have an early fancy for the Western Cape’s biggest horseracing showpiece can place their bets at any TABGold tote outlet.

> South Africa’s hottest Sizzling Summer Season racing, fashion and entertainment extravaganza, the R2,5-million, Grade 1 J&B Met can be viewed on SABC 3 live and uninterrupted from Kenilworth Racecourse from 3pm to 5pm on Saturday.

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