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| Staff Writer |
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There will be celebrations spanning multiple continents on April 5 if Isivunguvungu storms to victory in the Al Quoz Sprint at Meydan on Dubai World Cup night.
The tongue-twistingly named sprinter – it means 'storm' in isiXhosa – represents a truly international operation: bred and owned in South Africa, trained by a US-based Brit and set to be ridden by a French-based Belgian.
This global cast features some of racing's elite performers: Dubai World Cup-winning Graham Motion trains, Christophe Soumillon takes the ride, and Hollywood Syndicate – an emerging force in global racing – own the dual Group One winner.
"It'll be exciting to get back, it's been a while," says Motion, who claimed the World Cup in 2013 with Animal Kingdom, who had won the Kentucky Derby two years earlier.
That triumph remains a career highlight for the trainer. "Winning the Derby was amazing, but to get that horse back after two years off to win the Dubai World Cup, that was really gratifying," he says. "It was a two-year process to get him back for Dubai. That would have to be the highlight of my career."
Isivunguvungu has already had quite the journey, from winning two Group One races in South Africa for former trainer Peter Muscutt, to scoring on his US debut for Motion at Colonial Downs, before finishing a creditable seventh in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint.
The gelding began 2024 with a third in the Turf Dash Stakes at Tampa, a run that pleased his trainer despite defeat.
"He's doing super; I thought he had a really good prep," says the trainer. "You could make a case and say he should have won the race in order to come to Dubai, but I really needed to get a prep into him.
"He got a little sick after the Breeders' Cup when he shipped back to Fair Hill and ended up having a month off, so he literally only had four bits of work before this race at Tampa. So it was more about the timing, and the turf course, and getting a race into him.
"I thought he ran a creditable race. He was a little wide, he had a bad draw. The race achieved what we wanted it to, and he performed perfectly well under the circumstances."
Motion is particularly impressed with the gelding's morning work. "He's probably one of the best work horses I've had. He's really rapid in the morning. Not in a crazy, running off, type way, he's just a very fast horse, but a very kind horse to be around."
Isivunguvungu will travel to Dubai with Motion's long-term travelling assistant Alice Clapham, who also looked after Animal Kingdom.
"He can be aggressive on the track and do more than you want him to, if you're not careful," adds the trainer. "I very much doubt I'll breeze him over there. He'll do two pieces of work before he comes, and I'll just gallop him up to the race."
South African success on World Cup night isn't unprecedented, but due to challenging quarantine restrictions, one must go back to 2015 and Mubtaahij, trained by Mike De Kock, for the nation's most recent triumph. Consequently, Isivunguvungu's support network will be substantial at Meydan.
"They had a tough go with Covid, where they really struggled for a bit, and I think they've really shown that these horses can be very competitive internationally," says Motion, who recently enjoyed success when the South African-bred and -owned Beach Bomb won a Gr.3 at Gulfstream Park.
"When these horses came to me, this time last year, they were in quarantine for two months," explains Motion. "The objective was to get Beach Bomb and Isivunguvungu to the Breeders' Cup and in order to do that they couldn't miss a beat. It was remarkable that everything went as well as it did.
"There's a big group coming to Dubai, with Mike I believe. One Strike, the horse which won the King's Plate, which was a Breeders' Cup 'Win and You're In', is going to come to us after he runs next weekend. So that's kind of exciting too."
Motion maintains global aspirations and has even nominated a colt, Test Score, for the Derby at Epsom – unusual for a US-based trainer. "I'm always game for international travel," he says.
"But I think it's unlikely that we would go, as I'm not sure he's really a mile-and-a-half horse, and it's very early for us to be running our 3YOs over a mile and a half – we don't really get that opportunity over here. But it's something that I would love to do down the road."
Motion, who relocated to the States in 1980, came closest to a British winner when Spendarella finished second to Inspiral in the Gr.1 Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot in 2022.
"One of my goals is to win a race over there, I'm always thinking about it," he says. "I think taking the Europeans on over a mile and a quarter is tough to do. I love the Coronation as it's a mile, it's 3YOs, it has a turn and I like that. I think straightaway is tough, even though Tepin did it, which she probably didn't get enough credit for."
Perhaps Isivunguvungu will be the horse that takes him back to Royal Ascot. But first, there's the Al Quoz Sprint where this international team will aim to bring the house down in Dubai.