De Kock will give his wards another chance to perform

Trainer confident Master of Hounds and Anaerobio will deliver soon.

Three horses missing out on victories at last week’s meeting at Meydan have not dampened Mike de Kock’s spirit.

Mike De Kock is not one to dwell too long on a setback and the South African handler fully expects Master Of Hounds and Anaerobio to make up for their high-profile defeats last week by running them at Meydan Racecourse tomorrow.

Master Of Hounds did not have the clearest of runs when finishing third in the second round of the Al Maktoum Challenge on Thursday, but last season's UAE Derby runner-up still put in a deflating performance to come home just over two lengths behind Mendip.

The four year old lines up in the Group 2 Al Fahidi Fort and this time on turf De Kock believes he has his runner in better condition. "Master Of Hounds had every chance," he said of last week's run. "He's a delicate horse, so I haven't been hard on him in training, and I don't think he's at peak fitness yet. But we're getting there. I have a feeling he'll be better on turf."

Anaerobio was second to stablemate Mutahadee in the Dubal Trophy and the Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa representative takes his chance in the Jaguar XF Trophy against 13 challengers.

"Mutahadee was super impressive," De Kock said.

"I still don't know how good he is and he's a very exciting horse. He will take his place in the Jebel Hatta over 1,800m on Super Saturday [March 10] and then the Dubai Duty Free on World Cup night [March 31].

"That was another genuine effort from Anaerobio. He'll win a race very soon."

Bold Silvano was another who did not perform to expectations last week.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The former World Cup favourite could only finish fifth behind Sandagiyr over an inadequate 1,600 metres, but De Kock confirmed that World Cup night was still in the six year old's plans.

"He found the race too sharp for him and he never really had a clear run down the straight at all but he pulled up extremely well and will take his place in the Al Maktoum Challenge on Super Saturday and then the Dubai World Cup."