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Champion filly Majmu had a lot to live up to and did it with contemptuous ease landing the G1 Empress Club Stakes at Turffontein on April 11.
Trainer Mike de Kock has declared Majmu to be the best filly he has trained and nobody was arguing after won the R1 million feature by three lengths when her rider Anthony Delpech easing her down to the line.
Assistant trainer Mathew de Kock said before the race that the Australian-bred daughter of Redoubte’s Choice was “not race fit”, leaving trainers of other good horses around the country shuddering to think what the big grey may be capable of when fully wound up.The options are now wide open for Majmu as she is entered for three Champions Day races with her target to be chosen at the end of the month.
The choices are the G2 Gerald Rosenberg Stakes (2000m), the G1 President’s Champions Challenge (2000m) and the G1 SA Oaks (2450m).She will almost certainly join the de Kock team in either Dubai or England in the next 12 months.
Majmu was having her first start in 18 weeks but lacked neither fitness nor class to easily account for a classy field headed by Trophy Wife with another Australian-bred filly, Tamaanee in third place.Majmu is a graduate of the 2013 Inglis Sydney Easter Yearling Sale where she was offered by Arrowfield Stud and purchased by Shadwell Australia for $300,000.
The combo of Delpech, De Kock and owner Sheik Hamdan bin Rashid al Maktoum landed a treble on the card with Majmu, first-timer Shaama, another daughter of Redoute’s Choice, and Anjaal, a son of Lonhro. All three horses were bred in Australia.The other feature race on the Turffontein card, the Listed Spook Express Handicap for fillies and mares was won by Wild Ash, trained by Geoff Woodruff and ridden by Anton Marcus.