M De Kock anxious to reach his third victory during the Carnival by sending out Mahbooba in the Group 2 Cape Verdi
M De Kock, the genius of his profession has already nabbed two victories against his name through Mahbooba, winning the Al Rashidiya Trial on 5th January, and he then saddled, Musir, who won the Al Maktoum Challenge Round 1
on 12th January during the first two weekends of the Dubai World Cup Carnival.
After the Al Rashidiya success, for which Mahbooba was entered as a 11 to 8 favourite, her next assignment is to target the Group 2 Cape Verdi which will be held on 20th January, that marks the fourth meeting of the Carnival.
The race will be held over the distance of a mile.
The only concern that might be on De Kock’s mind would be regarding the fact that his five-year-old filly is habitual of racing at longer distances, and this particular race would test the jockey’s ultimate ability to first hold her back on the track
and then let her lose to govern over the left over distance.
She was first ridden by Christophe Soumillon, and the same jockey is called for accomplishing the 20th January’s challenge.
The jockey himself reserves the expertise of managing long distance horses to victory on shorter distances too, thus if everything falls in order, then De Kock would not need to wait long to celebrate his third success of the Carnival.
De Kock said: "Mahbooba has been great ever since we have had her and has proved herself particularly versatile. She is a 1m Classic winner here in the UAE on Tapeta, won over 1m4f on turf in England and then started her 2012 campaign in the best possible
way here over 1m1f. She still shows plenty of speed so 1m should be ok”.
The daughter of Galileo out of Sogha has spent the majority of the 2011 racing season at Meydan, and also started off the new season with a winning note at Meydan. Out of the eight starts that she made during the previous season, she won two and was
placed in four races.
On 3rd February, Mahbooba won the UAE 1,000 Guineas Trial sponsored by Etisalat, where she was sent as the 8 to 11 favourite, and on 23rd September she won the Aqlaam Godolphin Stakes at Newmarket.
Mahbooba will be accompanied by the stable mate Reem, who has been a bit of a disappointment lately, but can make an impact by performing this time around.
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