The die is cast and the 18 top thoroughbreds to contest Africa’s Greatest Horseracing Event, the R4.25-million, Grade 1 Vodacom Durban July over 2200m at Greyville on July 1, have been announced.

Al Sahem (JC Photographics)

With two reserve runners, the final field together with jockeys and barrier draws was revealed at a special function at Greyville yesterday and considering the recent July Log standings, there were no real surprises although the odd eyebrow might have been raised.

But it was the draw that threw the cat among the pigeons with second favourite Al Sahem drawing the plum gate at one while favourite Edict Of Nantes will have to jump from draw 13. There is little between the two on form them having fought out the finish of the Grade 1 Daily News 2000 and apart from the draw, the Sean Tarry-trained Al Sahem has a 0.5kg weight advantage over his rival.

After his wide draw last year from which he won the race, Joey Ramsden drew three for The Conglomerate and Callan Murray will be flying back from Hong Kong to ride him while third favourite before the final field was announced, Elusive Silva, did not fare as well and will have to break from gate 15.

Black Arthur and Marinaresco will jump from gates eight and nine respectively with Ten Gun Salute at five and the filly Nightingale on his outside.

No jockey has been announced for Summer Cup winner Master Sabina, now with the Justin Snaith stable, but Gavin Larena will fly back from the United Kingdom to ride Brazuca, Callan Murray will return from Hong Kong for the race and Muzi Yeni will make his way back from Mauritius to throw a leg over Ten Gun Salute.

Graeme Hawkins, Gold Circle’s Marketing Executive, announced during the luncheon the exciting tote expectations for the big day including a guaranteed Pick 6 pool of R10-million which is expected to reach R11-million plus and a massive guaranteed Quartet pool on the Vodacom Durban July of R13-million which is expected to reach R15-million.

There will be place payouts on the first six placed horses and the pool for this bet is expected to reach R8-million.

By Richard McMillan

In the end the Vodacom Durban July final field selection panellists had a fairly straight forward task, although there might still be one or two grumbles from disappointed connections and punters.

Daily News third-placed Horizon being made reserve and the Gr 3 Jubilee winner Coral Fever also not making the final 18 were the only decisions which could be considered contentious.

Horizon (Liesl King)

However, Horizon had little chance of winning the race on paper on known form with Edict Of Nantes and Al Sahem and his trainer Candice Bass-Robinson had already spoken of the Grade 1 Champions Cup being a more suitable race for him, so the connections are unlikely to be too upset.

Coral Fever won the Jubilee off a merit rating of 89 and beat a horse who was 0.5kg under sufferance, so it was not difficult to punch holes in that form.

The favourite Edict Of Nantes drew barrier position 13.

His nearest market rival Al Sahem received a rousing cheer when he drew pole position, but it is questionable whether this is a good draw these days. There have been a few slow run Julys recently, so being handy has become preferable and a horse drawn in pole might have to be used up to a certain extent to hold position.

Piere Strydom’s last two July wins have been on horses drawn 20, so he is unlikely to be too unhappy about his mount It’s My Turn’s draw of 17.

Last year’s winner The Conglomerate drew low in three. Trainer Joey Ramsden has made a habit of landing outside draws in the July and when his turn came there were only two numbers left for The Conglomerate, three and twenty. On this occasion he phoned Mayfair Speculators Racing manager Derek Brugman for help and between them, after much deliberation, they got the draw they probably preferred.

Last year’s runner up Marinaresco was the first horse to be drawn and his part-owner Marsh Shirtliff drew nine, a lot better than his draw of 17 last year.

However, he has drifted out to 10/1 in the betting and two horses above him in the market, Elusive Silva and Black Arthur, drew a wide 15 and a favourable eight respectively.

Durban couple Roy and Gladys Meaker had their first July runner way back in the 1970 and Gladys drew barrier ten for their supplementary entry this year, Mr Winsome.

By David Thiselton

Michael “Muis” Roberts is regarded by many as South Africa’s greatest ever jockey, yet at one stage he had resigned himself to forever being winless in his home country’s biggest race, the Vodacom Durban July.

Roberts was riding full time in the U.K, so the best July rides were usually booked, and the July also coincided with the Gr 1 Coral Eclipse which he often rode in.

His wife Verna used to brush over the missing July jigsaw piece by pointing out the Epsom Derby was the greatest race in the world and in his circumstances he would have a fair chance of winning that.

However, the July blank remained a sore point.

He said it had never gone as far as causing sleepless nights, but admitted, “What used to hurt me was when I would go to the cattle shows (Roberts owned a cattle farm) and the farmers who knew nothing about racing used to say to me ‘But you have never won the July’. The championships I had won meant nothing to them.”

Roberts won eleven South African championships before his 17 year stint in the UK, where in 1992 he became only the sixth non-British or Irish jockey to have won the British Flat Jockey Championship.

One of Roberts’ biggest July disappointments was in 1975 on Sledgehammer, whom he regards as one of the best he ever rode in South Africa. In the 1970s the Queen’s Plate was run in mid to late-February and in retrospect Roberts wondered whether horses like Sledgehammer, who had endured arduous campaigns during the Cape Summer season, were quite ready for the July.

He added, “I also thought I had a chance on Majestic Crown (fourth in 1976).”

Then in 1979 he landed a plum ride on the brilliant three-year-old Bold Tropic. Durban readers woke up on the morning of the race to the front page headline, “Muis sleeps as July fever soars” which summed up both the importance of the race and just how idolised Roberts was. However, he could only manage fifth place and Roberts recalled, “I think he was tired by the time of the July.”

Roberts’ best finish in that era came on the 1981 runner up French Mustard, who was a pick up ride after his original mount was scratched.

In 1987, now riding full-time in Britain, Roberts bumped into prolific South African owner Laurie Jaffee at Royal Ascot. Jaffee believed he would win the July that year with Bush Telegraph and offered Roberts the ride as the horse’s regular rider Garth Puller was going to battle to make the weight. However, Roberts could never have considered abandoning the great horse Mtoto. Bush Telegraph duly won the July, while Roberts steered Mtoto to two successive Coral Eclipse victories.

Then in 1997 Roberts’ agent told him at the races one Saturday that South African trainer David Ferraris had phoned and offered him a July ride on a horse called North By Northwest. After the races Roberts gathered this horse had won the Gr 1 Daily News and was the ruling July favourite.

“We were excited,” he recalled.

Super Quality and Michael Roberts

Roberts phoned Ferraris the next day on a Sunday morning. However, there was bad news. He was informed that stable jockey Weichong Marwing had changed his mind and had opted for North By Northwest. Roberts recalled the immediate disappointment. Ferraris then offered him the ride on his other runner Super Quality, whom he described as a “game little bugger”, but he added he would understand if he did not want to make the journey. However, Roberts did not have any Coral Eclipse commitments and always liked to visit his farm in the Karkloof in the KZN midlands, so he accepted.

He recalled the big day, “The worst part was when I was in the parade ring. I saw this tiny little horse walking in. Then I got on him and I couldn’t believe how small he was. I thought to myself, oh no, how embarrassing, journeying all this way to ride this horse. I asked the groom if he liked him and he replied, ‘No I like North By Northwest, he is a very nice horse.’ So my mood was down. But, then he went down to the start like an absolute bomb. I pulled him up at the 2400m mark and Garth was alongside and I remember telling him how good the horse had felt. David had only given me one bit of advice, which was not to bring him through horses, so to try and bring him to the outside.”

Roberts recalled having a rough passage in the early part of the race. “I remember screaming at Garth on my outside to give me some room because I thought I was going to go over the fence. But, after rounding the Drill Hall he was absolutely cantering. It was the first time I had travelled that hard in the July, you were usually starting to come off the bridle at that stage. And then as we were turning for home a big gap opened to my left. I was able to switch to the outside and the rest is history. I remember thinking how often a July leader is caught in the closing stages, but fortunately it did not happen.”

Roberts shed tears of emotion in the winner’s enclosure and recalled, “I couldn’t talk.”

Later, he bought a bottle of champagne for his weighing room colleagues and remembered having a fantastic party in “the middle” (known these days as “tent town”).

He was inundated with well wishes from all over the country and a TV sports channel also had an interview with him at the airport before he flew back to England the following day.

Roberts concluded, “It was the pinnacle moment of my career in South Africa.”

By David Thiselton

Horizon, third to Vodacom Durban July favourite Edict Of Nantes in the Daily News, looks set to miss the great race a week on Saturday.

Horizon (Liesl King)

Candice Bass-Robinson said yesterday: “I will decide in the morning but I am leaning towards waiting for the Champions Cup. The July is a tough race and Aldo Domeyer thinks he could be better off in the Champions.”

Domeyer is to switch to Krambambuli for Snaith Racing and Jonathan Snaith yesterday explained the decision to switch Bela-Bela from the July to the Jonsson Workwear Garden Province on the same card.

He said: “If she had been well handicapped Varsfontein would have run her but they felt that carrying 57kg was going to be a tough task for a filly. The three who won the July this century carried comparatively light weights – Ipi Tombe ( 52kg in 2002), Dancer’s Daughter (53kg in 2008) and Igugu (55kg in 2011).”

The stable has four in Saturday’s Highlands Stud Winter Derby but Jonathan said that African Night Sky, winner of both the Winter Guineas and Winter Classic, is expected to be their only runner.

Bernard Fayd’Herbe again rides the gelding and he has also been declared for stable companions A Time To Dream (Ladies Mile), Weston (Winter Oaks) and Miss Katalin (Irridescence).

By Michael Clower

Brett Crawford’s win in the Gr 2 Post Merchants with Search Party on Friday night at Greyville took his SA Champions Season tally to seven wins and he has earned more than any other trainer during this year’s festival of racing.

Brett Crawford (Liesl King)

Crawford’s total earnings in KZN from the Champions Season’s opening night on May 7 until the end of Friday Night’s Post Merchant’s meeting were R3,171,575. In second place was runaway national trainers championships leader Sean Tarry with seven wins for R2,477,575 and next was Justin Snaith with three wins for R1,367,500. KZN trainers Dennis Drier and Duncan Howells were the other million rand earners with eight wins for R1,219,200 and seven wins for R1,078,450 respectively. Dean Kannemeyer has had the most winners in this period, nine, but is only in ninth place in earnings. Crawford leads the number of black type races won with four, consisting of three Gr 1s and a Gr 2. Snaith has won a Gr 2 and two Gr 3s, Tarry has won two Gr 1s, Joey Ramsden has won a Gr 2 and a Listed race, Drier has won a Gr 1, Paul Matchett has won a Gr 1, Howells has won a Gr 2, Candice Bass-Robinson has won a Gr 2 and Kannemeyer and Gavin van Zyl have each won a Listed event.

The Crawford yard’s 27 Champions Season runs this season have also netted nine places, including three Gr 1 places.

Former Springbok rugby fly-half Lance Sherrell and his mother Delma have worn broad grins for a few weeks as they have watched the Crawford-trained pair Search Party and Gulf Storm run second and fourth respectively in their colours in the Gr 1 Tsogo Sun Sprint and they also own a share in the Crawford’s Gr 1 Rising Sun Gold Challenge winner Captain America. The Post Merchants was the cherry on top, although there might well be more to come. It is fitting the Sherrell’s black and white colours are doing well in KZN as all of Lance, his late father Reg and his grandfather Reg Evelyn played rugby for Natal.

Crawford-trained horses commandeer the top three positions in the Champions Season’s highest earnings with Gr 1 Daily News 2000 winner Edict Of Nantes on top with R1,27 million, Captain America second on R637,500 and Gr 1 Woolavington winner Lady Of The House third on R635,000. Search Party is in ninth spot on R447,500.

Another statistic where Crawford is top is the betting profit per runner. For a R1 stake put on all 27 of his runners they would have returned a profit of R41.

Corné Orffer has ridden three of Crawford’s seven winners and deserves plenty of credit for Search Party’s win on Friday night. There was no false rail for the race and this was always going to favour the low draws and the handy to front-running types. Orffer was aware of this and his first winning move was to use Search Party’s early pace from a fair draw of six to claim the rail in front. Orffer extracted a kick out of the four-year-old Captain Al gelding at the top of the straight and this was the second winning move, as it saw him stealing two lengths on the field. The improved four-year-old Captain Al gelding kept going well to hold on by 0,25 lengths for a thoroughly deserved second career Gr 2 victory. The runner up was last year’s Equus Champion Sprinter Talktothestars, who had sat handy on the rail from a draw of two and produced a flying finish with topweight.

He gave the winner 2kg so it was another fine performance by South Africa’s most travelled superstar. The third-placed Amazing Strike was drawn in pole and sat behind Search Party in the running. Fourth-placed Captain’s Causeway was also drawn well in five. The favourite Professor Brian’s chances looked forlorn after Search Party’s telling kick for home. He could only manage sixth, but did run on well and it is too early to tell whether the handicapper has his measure. His five successive wins before this race saw him rising from a 58 to a 91 merit rating.Crawford is the leading Cape trainer on the national log and before yesterday’s racing he was only R110,162.50 behind third-placed Mike de Kock.

By David Thiselton

Professor Brian is unbeaten since being gelded and trainer Joey Ramsden has done a masterful job in keeping the gelding winning and keeping his merit rating in check. The Australian-bred is looking for six wins on the bounce when he lines up in the Gr2 Post Merchants at Greyville tomorrow night and although officially out at the weights he could still be well under the handicapping radar.

Brett Crawford (Nkosi Hlophe)

Professor Brian was going nowhere before being gelded and as a result his merit rating had dropped dramatically. So when he did embark on his winning streak it was obviously a mark well below what he was capable off.

Strictly on paper Professor Brian has it all to do at the weights in spite of the handicappers pushing him up the maximum for each win.

Victory on Friday will give the handicappers more leeway in adjusting his rating but it will be too late for the opposition.

Brett Crawford, who saddled Captain America to win the Gr1 Rising Sun Gold Challenge last Saturday, will be two-handed with Search Party and Gulf Storm although the former looks to be the pick. He came in for some quiet market support in the recent Gr1 Tsogo Sun Sprint at Scottsville and only had the winner Bull Valley ahead of him. He has had a steady build-up into the Post Merchants and should be cherry-ripe.

Top weight Talktothestars did not have the best of luck on the Tsogo Sun Sprint, being checked just as he was making his run and losing all momentum. Top rider Bernard Fayd’Herbe will be aboard and with a clear run, could prove more than just dangerous to Professor Brian’s winning run.

Veteran galloper Barbosa has lost none of his zest for racing and was a fine third behind Bull Valley in the Tsogo Sun. He does have a better record down the straight but has a favourable inside draw and can be competitive.

Being a proper handicap, the Post Merchants often dishes up a surprise result and the likes of Gulf Storm, Amazing Strike and Lord Balmoral are others to consider especially if attracting a measure of market support on the day.

There is much at stake for some runners in the Track & Ball Oaks and Track & Ball Derby at Scottsville on Sunday, both Gr3 over 2400m. The names are something of a misnomer as both races are open to all ages but be that as it may, both races are seriously competitive.

With the final field for next month’s Vodacom Durban July to be decided on Monday, either of Witchcraft or Girl On The Run will need to win the Oaks, and win well, if they are to be considered for the July. Witchcraft won this race last year but has only had two outings since, the latest coming nearly a year after her penultimate start, so this may be a tall order. Yellow Wood Handicap winner Girl On The Run has finished runner-up in two starts since returning from a lengthy break and should strip at her peak. She looks the more likely candidate.

Mr Winsome, supplemented for the July by Dean Kannemeyer, is in a similar position in the Derby. He was running on strongly from last when third in the Gr2 Betting World 1900 behind Ten Gun Salute but although his recent form is solid, he will need victory on Sunday if he is to come into the final reckoning. His last two wins have come at Scottsville, the last an exercise canter over the distance, and although he takes on much stronger here, he does look the part.

By Andrew Harrison

The Gr 3 Track And Ball Derby and Gr 3 Track And Ball Oaks, both to be run over 2400m at Scottsville on Sunday, provide a last gasp opportunity for horses to impress the Vodacom Durban July final field panellists and these races are open to older horses these days so there are one or two July entries involved.

Mr Winsome (Nkosi Hlophe)

In the Derby, the July supplementary entry Mr Winsome is a typically progressive four-year-old son of Silvano and he impressed in the Betting World 1900 when finishing best of all for a two length third, dead-heating with Gr 1 winner It’s My Turn to whom he gave 2kgs. He will receive 2kgs from It’s My Turn in the July, so it will be difficult to leave him out if he wins on Sunday and with Anthony Delpech up from a good draw of four he looks the horse to beat. His only ever outing over this trip was over this course and distance, in his penultimate start, and he cruised in by five lengths. However, he was joint best in at the weights that day with the seven-year-old Serissa, but on Sunday has it a lot tougher.

Captain Splendid impressed when winning the Gr 3 Lonsdale Stirrup Cup over this trip at Greyville and he could follow up as that was only his second start around a right hand turn and he relished it. He was comfortably ahead of Ovidio, who had beaten him in the Gr 2 Cape Stayers over 2800m on Sun Met day.

Ovidio is the joint best weighted horse in Sunday’s race and has some fine staying form in Cape Town. He has to give the rest of the field at least 2kgs but has earned that penalty. He won the Listed Woolavington Handicap over this trip at Kenilworth last October with 62kgs on his back. However, in his last start in the Highland Night Cup over this trip at Greyville he ran well below par and finished more than nine lengths behind the July runner Krambambuli. His previous form behind Krambambuli over 2800m shows that was not his race and if he bounces back to his best he will go close.

Mr O’Neill was beaten two lengths in the Lonsdale and is now 0,5kg worse off with Captain Splendid. However, he was caught wide the whole way in that race, while the winner had the run of the race. He has always been well regarded and has proved why since gelding. He will be a big runner here, especially if he can find cover from a tricky draw.

Helderberg Blue finished an outstanding second in the Gold Cup over 3200m last year and is joint best in at the weights here, so he should go close as his notorious temperament has improved recently.

Witchcraft (Nkosi Hlophe)

Let It Rain cannot be ignored as he comes from the stable of the expert trainer of stayers, Weiho Marwing. He has good Highveld staying form and is progressive. His merit rating makes him under sufferance with the best rated here, but the Highveld stayers seem to have been treated more leniently than the Cape ones.

Sun On Africa has always struck as a staying type and after finishing third to Krambambuli in the Highland Night Cup he won a good race over 2000m so is going the right way.

Three Balloons has a plum draw but is the second lowest rated runner in the race. He will have to bounce back to his best.

Techno Captain is the lowest rated runner in the race but these staying races often defy the ratings and if he reproduces his best run over course and distance he could earn.

Mr Winsome is chosen to beat his stablemate Mr O’Neill with Captain Splendid third and Helderberg Blue and Let It Rain next best.

In The Oaks, Witchcraft defends her crown but has only had one run this season. However, she remains a July entry so must be in good shape. The other July entry is Girl On The Run and she has never been over this trip before and was caught late after leading over 2000m last time. She is by Silvano out of a Badger Land mare, but her grandam is by Golden Thatch, so there is a stamina question mark. The Centenary has some class and is proven over the trip so she is selected to beat Patchit Up Baby with Girl On The Run, Zafira and Witchcraft next best.

By David Thiselton