Justin Snaith’s response to learning he had delivered the most dominant finish by a trainer in Vodacom Durban July history was to say “That is incredible, there is no history like the July.”

Terrance Millard did the 1-2-3 in both 1986 and 1990, although in the latter race one of his horses dead-heated for third. However, Snaith went one better by doing the 1-2-3 and fifth place. He did have five runners in the race, while Millard only had three runners on each of those two occasions. However, Snaith’s winner Do It Again was 6,75 lengths clear of the first non-Snaith-trained horse home while Millard’s winners in those two years, Occult and Illustrador, were respectively 1,85 lengths and 3,3 lengths clear of the first non-Millard-trained horse home.

Some will argue Millard’s horses faced much stronger fields and they would probably be correct as this year’s race did not have a vintage field. However, the winner might turn out to be something special. Snaith was forced to ride him work last Wednesday as there was a groom’s strike on and he phoned Anton Marcus immediately afterwards excited about the horse’s prospects.

Snaith said, “I have sat on a lot of champions in Australia and South Africa and the feel he gave me was as good as any horse I have ever sat on. His movement and the whole package he has, there is a lot of potential. I have to thank Malan Du Toit too because he put in a lot of work at the starting stalls with him.”

Do It Again had in fact been a real handful upon arriving at the yard.

Snaith said, “He was a very naughty horse. If ever there was a horse you would have wanted to have gone to war with it was him. You just had to point him in the right direction and he would have run through a wall. He has always been a very strong-minded horse. The first time we wanted to take him to the gallops we couldn’t get him on the float.”

Not surprisingly he was gelded about two-and-a-half months before his debut on July 27 last year. Snaith explained, “Gelding gets them to focus more. But a year of effort has been put in to get him to have full trust in humans. He is now comfortable around humans. Even in the lead-in on Saturday people were able to touch him. A year ago if that had happened he would have lashed out. His groom Isaac Mwelafse has learnt a lot about horsemanship over the last year. He has done a very good job looking after him and also looks after my polo ponies.”

Do It Again won his first two starts over 1200m and 1600m respectively and then ran a close third in the Selangor Cup over 1600m at Kenilworth. He disappointed when unplaced in the Grade 1 Cape Guineas. However, Snaith earmarked him for the July after he had produced a flying finish to run second in the Grade 1 Cape Derby.

In KZN he won the Grade 2 KRA Guineas in his first start and Snaith pointed out that not having the best horses competing there, like Eyes Wide Open, had meant he escaped punishment by the handicapper and helped his July chances. However, he added, “The way he won on Saturday it would not have made a difference anyway.”

Snaith said he was not an easy horse to get to right and he had been a bit flat for the Daily News but had then turned the corner.

The Northfields Stud-bred Do It Again is owned by Nick Jonsson, Bernard Kantor and Jack Mitchell.

He is by Twice Over and hails from a strong female line. His dam Sweet Virginia is a three-time Grade 3 winner and did the Winter Classic and Winter Derby double, beating the boys. Do It Again is a half-brother to Listed winner Strongman, who also did well in Hong Kong, and is from the family of stakes winners of the like of Grade 1 winners Smart As Paint, Mill Hill and Dancewiththedevil.

He was a strapping individual at the National Yearling Sales of 2016. Nick Jonsson made him his pick of the sale, but bloodstock agent John Freeman had also selected him in unison with Jack Mitchell. Bernard Kantor was also interested as a shareholder in Klawervlei Stud where Twice Over stands. Jonathon Snaith approached the trio of investors and suggest they try and secure him together instead of bidding against each other. All were agreeable to the partnership, but they still had to go to R1,1 million to secure him.

Snaith said everything had gone “like clockwork” for all five of his horses going into the July. The only disappointment on the day was the favourite African Night Sky and Snaith had to confess his team were not impressed by the ride he was given. It had definitely not been the plan to come around horses at the 800m mark and take the lead. Grant van Niekerk had battled to hold the horse behind the pedestrian pace but Snaith believed he should rather have taken a stronger hold than come around them as the horse had been in a perfect position. However, he did admit African Night Sky’s move had inadvertently helped Do It Again as Marcus was able to get on to the train provided by both him and Matador Man.

Snaith said all of the horses had so far appeared to have pulled up well, but it was too early to tell for sure. It was also too early to speak about their futures.

He was also frustrated by cut off for the nominations for Gold Cup day being 11 a.m yesterday, before the new merit ratings for his July day horses had come out. He felt Made To Conquer was a perfect horse for the Gold Cup but would not want to run him with too much weight and he was thus going to have to estimate his new merit rating.  Snaith concluded by saying he hoped Ben Jonsson had been watching from a high with a smile and a sip of champagne as his son led in the winner.

By David Thiselton