Thursday, 28 June 2012: South Africa's Horse Of The Year Igugu has arrived in Mauritius on the second leg of her long journey that will eventually end in Dubai in October.
 | Igugu
Photo by Liesl King | |
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The daughter of Galileo was among 14 thoroughbreds who made a five-hour flight from Cape Town following 20 days of quarantine in South Africa.
They are now in confinement at the local Ministry Of Agriculture facility on the east coast of the Indian Ocean island where they will stay for 90 days under the strict conditions imposed by protocols relating to African horse sickness.
The group will then be shipped to England for a further 30 days' isolation and from there to Dubai where they will be prepared or the 2013 Dubai World Cup carnival.
Igugu and several other horses in the shipment will form the backbone of trainer Mike de Kock's squad for the 2013 carnival.
The team included last season's dual G1 winner The Apache, the Sheikh Hamdan-owned two-year-olds Soft Falling Rain and Mushreq and the classy Shea Shea, who he took over from Geoff Woodruff
Also in the quarantine group are top sprinting mare Val De Ra, who is destined for stud in Ireland and a possible first date with Galileo, and the G1 winner Dancewiththedevil, who is to go into training in the UK with a Newmarket trainer.
De Kock wanted Igugu in Dubai early this year but the lengthy and complicated travel arrangements imposed by quarantine restrictions prompted him to reduce the number of top horses he took from his native South Africa.
Igugu remained on home soil and in January won the J&B Met in Cape Town to give De Kock his third success in the G1 race.
"For Igugu and others to be able to compete internationally, we have no choice but to make early arrangements to get them out as soon as we can," De Kock said.
"It's ridiculous, but we can't take the chance of waiting until after the Durban July.”
De Kock will still hold a strong hand in the Durban July on Saturday week including Ilha Bela and Vettel.
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