ANTHONY Delpech finally put an end to his Gold Cup jinx when Wild One went clear a furlong out to justify 3/1 favouritism at Greyville last Saturday and add his name to the many remarkable stories surrounding this historic staying race.
Not long after finishing second in last year’s event the gelding went wrong and Mike de Kock feared he would never race again.
No sooner had the horse recovered than owner Sean Phillips decided to sell him: “I got disappointed with the game and I put all my horses into a dispersal sale. I thought there would be plenty of bids for this one but I was able to buy him back for only R200,000 (about €14,500).
Six times Delpech had finished second and six furlongs from home, when the horse decided to take off, the former champion was determined to exercise restraint. “In last year’s race he travelled very keenly but this time, when he grabbed the bit down the back, I said ‘be patient’,” Delpech related, adding: “The horse was spot on today - the trainer is a genius.”
This was the third Gold Cup in nine years for de Kock who said: “Wild One had a hell of a good prep - it’s very seldom a trainer goes into a big race when absolutely nothing goes wrong. The only hiccup we had was that the race was delayed a week.”
Wild One is by Mogok, an unraced full-brother to Machiavellian, out of a mare by the 1990 Horris Hill winner Sapieha, who was bred at the Stackallan Stud.