Superhero without tights

Has anyone ever seen Chuck Norris and Mike de Kock together in the same room? Thought not.

The invincible hero, cunningly disguised as a not-so-mild-mannered racehorse trainer from Alberton, no longer has us fooled.

What made him give up Hollywood for piles of dung, freezing pre-dawn gallops and jockeys who think they know better? Perhaps it was the challenge of mission impossible: getting dim, lazy horses to run incredibly fast.

Accolades and superlatives for De Kock have been exhausted ; let's just say he's one of the world's top trainers.

But even by his standards he's having a good run. In South Africa he has notched up 14 winners in the eight days to last Sunday, with a quintuple at Turffontein's Spring Challenge meeting.

That came on top of a listed race victory at Newmarket, in England, and a typically De Kock ground-breaking trip to Turkey to annex that country's Topkapi Trophy with Musir and open up new avenues for South African thoroughbreds. Both those raids were made from his UK base - from where he has sent filly Mahbooba for a grade1 race in Canada this Sunday.

De Kock says he was "fairly hard" on his local horses last season and gave them a longer break than normal. So, at Turffontein last Saturday, some were returning to the track after months of holiday and might have been expected to be a tad sluggish. No chance.

The Joburg Spring Challenge was a two-pronged affair; one race for fillies and one open to both sexes. Needless to say, Chuck - err sorry, Mike - took the audacious option and won both with fillies. A superhero has many fans - err sorry, clients - to please.

And ever more rich and ambitious patrons line up to give him fabulously pedigreed horses to prepare. South Africa's leading owner, Markus Jooste, is now on board, joining the likes of Bridget Oppenheimer and the Sheik.

All bets are off on him breaking every record.

Today, De Kock is in Mooi River watching public breeze-up gallops for the Ready To Run Sale to be held in Germiston next month. As usual, he's on a panel of experts that passes opinion on the young horses.

Both Igugu and Pierre Jourdan, first and second in this year's Durban July, came off the Ready To Run. So eyes will be firmly on it and Mike's fancies.

But wait! Last year the master didn't name wonder filly Igugu in his best of the gallops. Cape Town trainer Joey Ramsden was the only panel member to do so.

A chink in the De Kock armour?

Maybe not. Maybe it was a ruse to throw us off the Chuck scent.

For who was it that ended up with Igugu in his stable and took her to a memorable July triumph and the first-ever Triple Tiara?

Turffontein tomorrow: PA - 2,11 x 1,4 x 3 x 11 x 3,7 x 1,10 x 4,8,11,13 (R64)