Next Of Kin wins under a good ride

Apprentice Anaas Mosaheb has enjoyed two sensational weeks with eight winners from 20 rides, and he managed to get a second win from Hollywood Racing’s grey, Next Of Kin at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Friday evening – something five senior jockeys before him couldn’t achieve in the last year.

In fairness, of course, Anaas claimed 4kg for his ride in this Class C Handicap and that made a massive difference to his fortunes. But, as Mike de Kock rightly pointed out, Next Of Kin is quite a ‘mouthy’ horse’ whose inability to settle during the running has most certainly cost him a few wins.

“I was very impressed with this kid tonight,” Mike said about the apprentice. “He has a nice pair of hands and he got Next Of Kin to settle.” He quipped: “Anaas is a nice, humble young man whom I haven’t met before  because he rides 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th string (at Summerveld) for MJ Odendaal and the rest of us don’t get a chance!

“Next Of Kin all but won his penultimate start and was very deserving of this win tonight. The 4kg’s off tonight made a big difference.”

Anaas, who officially rode out his 4kg claim on Next Of Kin and will now claim only 2.5kg, said: “This is a special win, I am really grateful to Mr De Kock and Mr Delpech. It means a lot to me.”

Anaas rode another two winners on the night to bring up his four-timer and while it will get trickier with the lesser claim now, he certainly looks like an exciting prospect coming through the ranks.

Next Of Kin, too, probably won’t stop here now that he has found his confidence. There was an eight-time winner and a pair of four-time winners in this race and there was merit in his success. He is a Ridgemont-bred son of Canford Cliffs and My Friend Lee, by Pathfork.