Too fast for our own good

After watching two of his horses romp to victory at Meydan last week, then seeing another South African runner put in a brilliant performance to win a third race on the card, you'd expect Mike de Kock to be chipper.

His response? "We don't have many friends and there is no help forthcoming."

The great trainer thundered on: "There's influential decision-makers purposefully standing in our way. We're held back by opinion, not by science, and it's patently wrong."

Source of irritation? Equine export protocols.

If you don't know what this means and haven't read my own grumpy rants on it, tough. I'm not going there today.

I'll just say that international rules make exporting South African horses a difficult, expensive, risky, six-month undertaking. Foreign busybodies say we'll export horse sickness too - despite no science or precedent to back this up.

Let's leave the slugging to Big Mike on his website: "Our results at this Dubai meeting were spectacular. If the racing world doesn't wake up after this I don't know what it will take to get them behind us. Our stud farms breed high-quality bloodstock at the most affordable prices. They're able to hold their own anywhere in the world.

"Three South African-bred runners won in top company at the world's richest racing extravaganza. Variety Club, our dual Horse Of The Year, franked his form with an easy Grade 3 win first time out on foreign soil. Vercingetorix, unbeaten in South Africa, stepped out winning after his long travels, and Sanshaawes underlined our form.

"Imagine the heights we could reach if we were allowed to export our bloodstock within reasonable times, in line with the rest of the racing world.

"Where are the individuals with the courage to open doors for us?"

Well, don't expect door-opening from other racing countries. It's a competitive game and, if a rival is hobbled by injustice, looking the other way is the tactic.

Canadian officials wished they had awkward import rules to invoke when Dr William Livingston brought his horse, Ricks Natural Star, from New Mexico in the US to compete in the 1996 Breeders' Cup Turf race.

It wasn't that Ricks was fast, like our Variety Club, but that he was extremely slow and an embarrassment at their highfalutin meeting.

The seven-year-old gelding had run three times in low-grade races - and finished last each time. But the Doc paid $50000 to enter his pride and joy in the Cup and drove him 4000km to Toronto.

The race cut up with scratchings and Ricks was in, along with some of the best horses in the world, despite strenuous efforts to dissuade his owner from this silliness.

Ricks finished so far behind the other 13 runners he wasn't even placed 14th, just noted as a withdrawal.

Livingston then declared he'd aim Ricks at the Hong Kong Invitational. "I think that would be one hell of a trip."

Restoring sanity to the world, someone with courage stepped in, bought Ricks Natural Star and retired him.