MIKE de Kock was as much in awe of Hawwaam’s 3.50-length
victory in Saturday’s WSB Premier’s Champions Challenge over 2000m at
Turffontein as the thousands of racing fans who watched his flawless execution
of a 5th Gr1 success, but said that he felt dismayed at what lies ahead for
Sheikh Hamdan’s star four-year-old.
“When you have a horse like Hawwaam and our two juveniles
that ran in the Nursery and you know they are good enough to take on the
world’s best, you have to cringe for them. They have arduous journeys ahead!”
Mike elaborated: “As things stand, Hawwaam will be going
into quarantine soon. He will have to spend three weeks at Kenilworth and a
further 90 days in Mauritius before he can travel on to the UK where a further
180-day residency will be required should we choose to travel to Australia.
Should we choose to travel to Dubai, a 30-day residency will be required.
“I know what it takes to win abroad. Hawwaam is good enough
to win a race like the Arlington Million the US, and he is more than good
enough to win A Gr1 in Australia. I’d like to see him race in Australia. But
look what we have to go through to get there!”
Mike praised Sheikh Hamdan for his patience and said: “Sheik
Hamdan is one of the world’s great owners, he has been a staunch and invaluable
supporter of our industry, but we are unable to get his top runners out of the
country timeously.”
Mike said that he was disappointed that the European Union
had not gone to greater lengths to get the South African export protocols audit
performed, even in Covid-19 time. “We see Zoom meetings happening at boardroom
levels all over the world. Why can’t they do our audit virtually? Our industry
is in dire straits, our operator is in business rescue but still, the EU are
taking their time.
“We need help. I wonder what we must do to make the audit
happen? Maybe we should go on our knees before them. They must be seeing what
is going on but they are stalling. All they should do is the right thing, what
will it take?”
Adrian Todd, MD of South African Health & Protocols,
said that the EU officials were unable to travel to South Africa due to the
restrictions, but with Europe ‘opening up’, there could be some positive news
soon. “They have assured me that that audit will take place this year,” he said.
Mike concluded: “The future of South African racing and the
employment of tens of thousands of workers in our industry rest on the
shoulders of the EU. We need them to level the playing fields, because we
produce athletes capable of competing on the world stage. We have done our bit,
the rest is now up to them.”
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