Callan Murray is confident Dave The King is “in fantastic order” as he bids to defend his G1 Gold Challenge (1600m) crown at Greyville on Saturday on the back of his dominant front-running win at Scottsville last month.
Last year’s Gold Challenge victor ran his rivals ragged from the front over 1500m on May 18 and while he failed to fire at the end of last season, Murray is optimistic he’s back at the top of his game.
“It certainly was [quite easy] and that’s how it felt on his back,” Murray told Andrew Le Jeune on the latest Idol Horse Podcast. “He’s obviously a very talented horse who went slightly off the boil at the end of his last prep, but it was good to see him return in such good fashion and win so similarly to how he did in the previous year’s route.”
The five-year-old recorded a dominant success in the same race in his prep for last year’s Gold Challenge, which he took out in a powerful two-and-a-quarter-length romp on the Greyville turf.
The Mike and Mathew de Kock-trained gelding returned to Greyville, in the Durban suburbs, to triumph in the G1 Champions Cup over 1800m at the end of July.
This year, Murray hopes Dave The King has overcome the setbacks that led to a pair of below-par efforts at Turffontein in Johannesburg in November last year.
“I’m not 100 per cent sure what the issues were but I know they had a lot of struggles with him and he was fortunate to get a lot of help,” Murray said. “I sat on him this morning and last Saturday and I’m happy to report that the horse is in fantastic order.”
Murray’s Group 1 opportunity aboard Dave The King comes after he decided to temporarily swap South Australia for South Africa in his search for Group 1 glory in his home country. The 28-year-old rider, who plans to be in South Africa until the end of July, said his relationship with former Victorian trainer Mathew proved the deciding factor in his decision to return for a short-term stint.
“It has happened pretty quickly,” he added. “I immigrated to Australia and made it home with my partner and, as a few people would know, Mathew de Kock returned to South Africa. After a few chats with him, there was an open door to come back and ride a few for them as well as other trainers.
“I thought, why not? I’m not necessarily tied down to anything and obviously I still have a hunger to chase those big races, so I took the opportunity with both hands.”
Dave The King bids for his third top-level win when he takes on the likes of See It Again and Cosmic Speed, who shape as his most immediate rivals. ∎
