De Kock over the moon

Victory Moon gave champion South African trainer Mike de Kock the perfect Christmas present with a stirring performance in yesterday's first running of the Dhs 350,000 Al Nakhlee (Prestige) at Nad Al Sheba racecourse.

The South African-bred colt annihilated a top field of three-year-olds to win by nine lengths from Countykat, ridden by Gary Hind, with Godolphin's first runner-of the season High Descent one and a quarter length back in third.

Victory Moon's second win in the UAE made it two-out-of-two for De Kock who said shortly after the race that all the big three-year-old races in the UAE beckon for the Al Mufti colt who is unbeaten in three career starts.

"The next target is the UAE Guineas with the UAE Derby his ultimate target," said De Kock who had flown-in from South Africa earlier in the week. "He's a nice horse with a lot of potential and he's handled the conditions out here very well.

De Kock, who has trained over a thousand winners, said he was not surprised that Victory Moon won so easy.

"To be honest we were very confident after this horse, which is bred for 10 furlongs, won over seven at Jebel Ali. I knew he would be a lot better over a longer trip and I was pretty sure he would run a big race today."