Dave The King wins the Gr 1 HKJC Champions Cup (Candiese Lenferna Photography)
Equus Horse Of The Year Dave The King was officially scratched from the Betway Summer Cup on Wednesday, which came as no surprise as trainer Mike de Kock had said before the Gr 2 Allied Steelrode Onamission Charity Mile he would not run in the 2000m race, but would instead run in a Pinnacle event in preparation for his chief target, the L’Ormarins King’s Plate.
Dave The King will still be running on Summer Cup day, but it will be in a Pinnacle event over 1400m.
The big Global View gelding is under a bit of a cloud due to his disappointing run in the Charity Mile, in which he was not persevered with by Richard Fourie.
Fourie reported something had felt amiss and a racecourse veterinarian check later on found him to be not striding out on his left hind.
A thorough check on the Monday after the race found nothing amiss and De Kock had commented that he had run a similar race in the previous season’s Charity Mile.
De Kock, said on the day after the Charity Mile, “Dave The King is an extremely sound horse, so this was very uncharacteristic. He was just slightly off behind, not serious and it was hard to make a judgement post-race. He was given anti-inflammatories on Sunday.”
De Kock said he had been doing very well at home ahead of his next race.
