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Mike de Kock, the most successful international trainer in the history of the Dubai World Cup Carnival, faces a huge challenge as he prepares his team for 2014.

Because of difficulties with the movement of horses across South Africa and flight times, 14 of his horses bound for Dubai only went into quarantine in Mauritius early last month.

It was the second leg of their tortuous journey to compete at Meydan during the 2014 carnival after passing quarantine in South Africa.

His string, which includes mostly horses owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa and Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid, spent 21 days in quarantine in South Africa and now must stay on the island of Mauritius for 90 days.

With the estimated cost of getting a horse from South Africa to Dubai set at around US$50,000 and the final 40 of those days spent under strictly monitored quarantine with few facilities to train, it is anything but idyllic.

From Mauritius the horses will progress to the Abington House facility at Newmarket in the UK where they must spend a month before kicking on with a few additional stablemates to Dubai, where they will face another six days of quarantine.

It is an odyssey that severely hampers De Kock’s chances at the Dubai Carnival.

Last year was the first full season that De Kock’s horses took this circuitous route after a severe outbreak of African Horse Sickness in South Africa in 2011 saw export protocols change markedly.

De Kock’s horses all needed time to adjust in Dubai but after a run under their belt they flourished to hand him 15 winners at Meydan in 88 outings.

On World Cup night, he struck with Sheikh Hamdan’s Soft Falling Rain in the Godolphin Mile and Shea Shea in the Al Quoz Sprint to accumulate just under R45 million in prize-money for the season, second only to Godolphin’s Saeed bin Suroor.

De Kock has to start planning in April and have a team shortlisted for quarantine two months later.

“I have to make the final call in June as to what I will be running in Dubai in January,” De Kock said.

“From the day I left Dubai after the World Cup, I’ve been looking at my horses in South Africa and trying to decide which ones will be good enough.

“There are better horses at home, but some of them are only just getting going and winning now, and you try choosing which three-year-olds are going to come good so early.”

Leading his team for 2014 is Vercingetorix, the champion three-year-old colt of South Africa but in an effort to maximise his revenue streams, De Kock is also bringing several horses to Dubai for other trainers.

They include Variety Club, the South African champion miler and two-time Horse of the Year, trained by Joey Ramsden, who is being accompanied by stablemate Blueridge Mountain, a G1-winning filly.

Durban July winner Heavy Metal will also come to Dubai for trainer Sean Tarry.

Other star names include Rumya, an unbeaten three-year-old filly owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al-Maktoum, Full Combat and Mujaarib, owned by Sheikh Hamdan, and Journeyman, owned by Mary Slack.

In all, nine of the 14 are owned by Sheikh Mohammed and two are owned by Sheikh Hamdan.

After Dubai Alexander Palace and Master Plan will head to Singapore for respective owners Mark Yong and Fred Crabbia, who owned Dubai Golden Shaheen winner Rocket Man.