Isivunguvungu’s Dubai Quest in Motion
There will be celebrations all over the world on 5 April if Isivunguvungu wins the G1 Al Quoz Sprint at Meydan Racecourse.
That’s because the tongue-twistingly named sprinter [it means storm in isiXhosa]was bred and is owned in South Africa, trained by a US-based Brit and will be ridden by a French-based Belgian.
That international cast are are among the best in the business: Dubai World Cup-winning Graham Motion is the trainer, Christophe Soumillon is the jockey and Hollywood Syndicate – an emerging force in racing all over the world – are the owners.
No pressure then, Isivunguvungu…
“It’ll be exciting to get back, it’s been a while,” says Motion, who won the 2013 Dubai World Cup with Animal Kingdom, the 2011 Kentucky Derby winner. It may be 12 years ago, but the memory burns bright.
“Winning the [Kentucky] Derby was amazing, but to get that horse back after two years off to win the Dubai World Cup, that was really gratifying,” he says. “It was a two-year process to get him back for Dubai. That would have to be the highlight of my career.”
Could Isivunguvungu give him another highlight next month? His is an interesting journey, from winning two Grade Is in South Africa for Peter Muscutt, to winning on US debut for Motion at Colonial Downs, to finishing a creditable seventh in the G1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. He started this year with a third in the Turf Dash Stakes at Tampa, a performance which had Motion satisfied.
“He’s doing super; I thought he had a really good prep,” he says. “You could make a case and say he should have won the race in order to come to Dubai, but I really needed to get a prep into him.
“He got a little sick after the Breeders’ Cup when he shipped back to Fair Hill and ended up having a month off, so he literally only had four bits of work before this race at Tampa. So it was more about the timing, and the turf course, and getting a race into him.
