News Forries Waltz continues Mike de Kock Meydan domination

Forries Waltz continues Mike de Kock Meydan domination

racing

Mike de Kock saddled the first, second and fourth in the Al Rashidiya at Meydan as Forries Waltz got the better of stablemates Ertijaal and Mujaarib in the feature event.

South African De Kock has farmed the Group Two in recent years and was winning it for the fifth successive year and eighth in all.

Forries Waltz, ridden by Christophe Soumillion, came with a late run to mow down Paul Hanagan on Ertijaal, not to be confused with the former William Haggas runner of the same name who is also running at the Carnival.

RaceBets introduced the winner at 9-1 for the Dubai Turf on World Cup night and trimmed the runner-up to 11-1, with De Kock seemingly expecting plenty of improvement from Ertijaal.

"He was fit and in form, the real class was Ertijaal on paper," said De Kock.

"Forries Waltz was the up and comer we weren't really sure about, we knew we had a racehorse but how good he was we didn't really know, but it is a race we target every year and I would expect a massive amount of improvement from the second horse.

"I thought it was a huge run from Ertijaal with the view that he will improve from it, he was very green on the turn, he was on the wrong leg a lot of the way and just ran out of steam in the last 100 yards.

"With that in mind it was a good run. I'll discuss whether he switches to dirt with Sheikh Hamdan as he has a style which could suit it, we've nothing to lose by trying."

Do Kock went even better in the Bab Al Shams Desert Resort And Spa Handicap by saddling the first three as Anaerobio beat Banaadeer and Royal Ridge.