Gold Circle Pty (Ltd)

Today's Racing :

Part 2 of 2 True Handicap for Durban July - David Thiselton

Continues from True Handicap for Durban July

Part 2 of 2 True Handicap for Durban July - David Thiselton
Who is the most likely winner though?
The detraction to the chances of the De Kock horses for the traditionalists would be that they have all done a lot of racing this season.
However, the attention to detail of the De Kock yard is second to none and everyone of his horses is sure to arrive for the big day as fit and as sound as possible.
Irish Flame has been the most impressive of his runners. Although many think he would prefer further, he was making up ground smoothly in the Cape Derby over the easy Kenilworth 2 000m before being almost bumped over the rail.
De Kock was pleased with Bold Silvano’s run in the Champion’s Cup, being one of the few horses to make up ground from behind.
This horse was very immature as a young three-year-old and is coming into his own in the de Kock yard.
De Kock likes Lizarre a lot and his run on Sunday at Clairwood, his first for the yard, will be very interesting.
Ancestral Fore won the Gold Cup, and has a nice action, a good turn of foot and seems to really put his head down when racing, a sign of his soundness and enjoyment.
At the weights the horse everybody is talking about is the Mike Bass-trained River Jetez.
She has been described as a “freak” in some quarters, so good has she become as a six-year-old.
She has the heart of a lion, the athleticism of a gazelle and there are not many J&B Met winners that would find themselves so well weighted for the July.
Pocket Power will go in as the forgotten horse, but a birdie is telling many punters not to forget him as at his best he can beat virtually any field with any weight, while Bernard Fayd’herbe will be keen to make amends for the bad luck the great horse suffered in last year’s race.
However, the Bass horse shortest in the betting is actually Fort Vogue, the second favourite.
This horse, like River Jetez, appears more lithe and more agile the older he gets.
He also comes in with a nice looking weight.
Aslan impresses as a much improved horse, despite having won the Summer Cup last year, and he is probably even better weighted than Fort Vogue.
Orbison not only has the rangy looks of a top horse, but he couples it with a really brilliant turn of foot.
The yard rate him two or three lengths better than Sushisan, who finished runner-up in 2006.
There are others that can also be given handicap chances, but the biggest fairytale winner would be Grafton Street.
As a four-year-old he was retired to a hack yard after tendon trouble, but so miserable was he there that he was sent to be a hack for Mike Stewart at his Noordhoek beach-based yard last year.
Stewart put him back into training and here he is as an eight-year-old, virtually a certainty to line up for South Africa’s race of dreams, the Vodacom Durban July.

\| All information on these pages are (©) Copyright Gold Circle Pty (Ltd) 2002 \| site map
(This site is best viewed at 1024 X 768)