I LOVE BEING SOUTH AFRICAN

Briliant Well done Mike De Kock / Kevin Shea

Superb, will watch the race later, but the confidence was spot on! MDK is the man!

EAGLE MOUNTAIN made it two wins in three starts since joining Mike De Kock as he finally broke his Group 1 duck in the Cathay Pacific-sponsored Hong Kong Cup.

Kevin Shea stole a march on hisrivals on board the four-year-old as they raced into the straight and the pair had already skipped clear of the pack before the massive gamble on Viva Pataca came unstuck as his rider managed to find every bit of trouble going as he attempted to weave his way up the far rail on the 1-3 favourite.

Balius got closest to the winner, finishing a length and a quarter down, with Linngari, having his final start for Sir Michael Stoute before retirement, finished a further length and three quarters back in third.

Despite his easy victory Shea admitted he did not have things all his own way.

"It was a rough race. It didn't go according to plan but it never does," said Shea.
Kevin Shea: won the Summer Mile at Ascot on Archipenko

Kevin Shea: believes HK Cup winner Eagle Mountain is 'special'
PICTURE: Edward Whitaker

"There was a lot of interference in front of me and I could hear a lot of interference behind me, but he was always travelling well and once I got round to the 800 I was happy to pull three wide, the horse in front of me was improving but I had the horse underneath me.

"I had a clear run straightening and I waited until I was well inside the 400 to set him alight and when I was inside the 300 I glanced at the big screen and I saw he had gone clear and I knew it was race over. This is a special horse and has improved from America.

"I have always thought this was a better horse than Archipenko but also a different horse. Archipenko is very labouring and you have to get into him to start working, but this horse is very automatic.

"Maybe the injury has done him a world of good and given him time to rest .

"Mike's results speak for themselves. He has won races in about every country in the world at Group 1 level."


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MDK has to be one of the best sportsman ever to come out of this country..he is incredibly talented and most unassuming..he has showed the racing world that he is able to win Grp 1 races on different continents in the same month which very few can do.

We in SA are very fortunate that he retains his base stable in this country and that we are able to chat to him at races when he is in SA. It is wierd when you see a world celebrity in the racig world lead a winner in at the Vall racecourse on a thursday afternoon for R40k and a few days later lead in a winner in Sha Tin HK for R12m.

What an icon!

This is commitment.
Oscar you have hit the nail on the head.

Well said see home page!

I see that there was a nice right up in todays Mercury (independent Newspapers) on MDK KB Shea and Eagle Mountain outside of the normal racegoer articles. Well done to them.

There was also an interesting article about Gidani the Lotto operator and their plans to grow their market share with new games. Currently own 2,5% market share of the gambling industry. They specifically mentioned that they compete with horse racing which to me is a warning that needs to be addressed.

I predict a further attack on racing and our operators need to shine or there is going to be problems.