Pocket Power – The Mighty Champion

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It’s been a wild 48 hours since Pocket Power delivered the goods in such sensational style in the J&B Met at Kenilworth on Saturday - and we’re still pinching ourselves. I must apologise for the late posting, amidst the continuing celebrations and post race formalities we simply have not had a chance to write for our website.

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The much awaited script could not have been written any better as the pair broke away in the home stretch, and I’m pretty sure at no race course around the world would you have heard anyone scream a horse home harder, and louder, than in the Mike Bass racing suite on Saturday. As we began to digest the enormity of his achievement Candice Robinson earnestly put it - He is the only horse that will ever bring us all to tears. It is a great privilege to be associated with a legend of the turf like this, and certainly to experience this achievement as a family, will always be the greatest moment of our lives.

A usually calm and collected Mike Bass let his guard slip when he proceeded to flatten a glass of wine in just two sips before the field jumped. The tension and pressure on him for this race was particularly telling under the circumstances and I think this historic achievement stands testament to what a great trainer he has become.

It’s been a long time since the South African public have warmed to a racehorse like they have to Pocket Power, perhaps the last one to capture the imagination in recent memory was Horse Chestnut, and it was just awesome to see the support that he receives from far and wide.

Had the grey mare won, there’s no secret in that it would have been a hard pill for us to swallow purely from the point of view that it was his moment to make history and she would have stolen his thunder on the big day. Kudos to Justin Snaith for turning his champion out sensationally and she earned enormous respect from her supporters for her admirable fight.

Bernard, Pocket Power’s renowned pilot, rode a perfect race aboard his bay and it will be sad for us to see him leave for Saudi Arabia. However he will be back to ride for us in the Durban season when the Power will return with the Durban July firmly in his sights.

Regardless of what transpires up North next season, if Pocket Power remains full of running at the ripe age of seven, he will be leaving our local shores to tackle the worlds best on the Meydan stadium in the 2010 world cup in Dubai.

On such a successful occasion a few special thanks are always in order.

Firstly to Marsh, Arthur and Rina, who have made our job of training this horse so pleasurable. It brings us great satisfaction to see them alongside their noble steed in South African history.

Marsh and Rina Webber

We would like to single out a special man who’s work on Saturday was worthy of an oscar. To Andrew Bon, who captured footage of every aspect of the race, and who was probably the only man on track to have not watched the race live, choosing instead to capture the memories on camera of all the connections involved. He then left the course to edit and produce a package for us all to watch in the post race celebration. An altruistic and wonderful gesture of a true professional who’s passion for racing is unmatched. Thank you Andrew.

To all the supporters of Pocket Power, I speak for all of his connections, when we say thank you for taking the time to send us such wonderful words of encouragement and sincere letters of congratulations. We’ll make sure we pass them on to the Champ.

Lastly to Gold Circle and J&B for once again making Cape Town’s premier racing day and social occasion an enormous success. Thank You

The humor for the day came in the post race press conference where Justin’s invitation for a match race between Pocket and Dancer’s Daughter was countered by Mike’s response, ‘Of course not, He proved himself today, was there any part of today’s beating that you didn’t understand?, maybe we could set up something with River Jetez though “

Of our other runners, African Appeal produced what was expected of him on the day and ran a very creditable race. Unfortunately Floatyourboat got badly interfered with earlier on and ended up racing four wide from the rear and it would be unfair to judge him fairly on this performance but nevertheless he has been a loyal soldier to the Bass stable.

As expected River Jetez ran an absolute cracker of a race and her third place finish augurs well for her KZN campaign where we look forward to renewing her rivalry with Dancer’s Daughter in next years Durban July. Her future looks bright, as she, like her brother, continues to improve all the time and she’s now shaping up as a live overseas prospect.

We’re all looking forward to relaxing after a rather tense few weeks and we’d like to say thank you for sharing this amazing emotional ride with us.

Sincerely

The Mike Bass Racing team