Gold Circle Pty (Ltd)

Today's Racing :

Peach of a ride by Delpech

David Thiselton
Anthony Delpech gave Vodacom Durban July winner, the Mike de Kock-trained Bold Silvano, a faultless ride in the big race on Saturday and used the one advantage he knew he had over the only horse he feared, Irish Flame, to perfection.
"Bold Silvano had a fantastic preparation," he said before elaborating to say that from day one until the July there had not been one hitch and everything had gone perfectly.
"I have never in my career had a better association with a horse than I've had with Bold Silvano for the last three months. I was very bullish."
Only two things now stood in Delpech's path, the luck of the draw and the brilliant Irish Flame.
"When Bold Silvano drew two I was so happy I nearly cried ," he revealed. "The only horse I feared was Irish Flame, but there was one advantage I knew I had. I knew that Bold Silvano had a superior turn of foot."
Delpech praised De Kock after the race calling him "a genius" and said that he felt it was a privilege to be the yard's second choice jockey.
Bold Silvano will head for Dubai now and it will be interesting to see whether Delpech keeps the ride over there.
De Kock spoke of South African racing having now surpassed its previous status as "an emerging horseracing country" and said that the world was "watching us".
He reckoned that if the unfair restrictions placed on the travel of our horses were lifted it would see our racing becoming a major force.
He added that the overseas feats of Lizard's Desire had given our racing a huge boost and believed that Bold Silvano might even be a better prospect.
Part owner of Bold Silvano, Gill Thomson, said that she had gone to look at some Al Mufti's at Ascot Stud when she first spotted Bold Silvano.
"There was something about him and I got Gavin (Smith) to bid for him at the sale," she revealed.
Breeder Ashley Parker of Ascot Stud screamed home Bold Silvano and it made up for the narrow defeat of Al Mufti to Flaming Rock in 1991.
Interestingly, Bold Silvano is out of an Al Mufti mare while Irish Flame is out of a Flaming Rock mare.
The sixth placed River Jetez was the first older horse home.
She had to switch around a labouring Fort Vogue at the top of the straight, which cost her some ground, but she was losing ground to Orbison and Service Ace in the closing stages.
Andrew Fortune had questioned the strength of the J&B Met form in a television panel in the build up and the result appeared to prove him correct, whilst another top analyst, the former handicapper Vee Moodley was also proved correct in his view that the three-year-olds were well handicapped.

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