The current incumbent Vodacom Durban July “trophy-holding” jockey Start Randolph is still not sure who his ride for this year’s big race will be, but he knows he will need to find a good one to beat Friday night’s Gr 2 Canon Guineas winner Black Arthur.
Stuart Randolph (Nkosi Hlophe)
Randolph also spoke of what it meant to win the July and how the race had changed from a tactical point of view due to the new much narrower track.
Randolph was happy his mount in Friday night’s Guineas, the Dean Kannemeyer-trained Mambo Mime, settled after being dropped out from a wide draw and even more happy to find himself on the rail behind the favourite Black Arthur, even if it meant he was in last place.
However, Black Arthur soon appeared to be battling, as he was being pushed along continuously by jockey Anthony Delpech.
“I thought he was going nowhere so I pulled my horse out and went alongside him.”
Mambo Mime went to the outside in the straight and ran on strongly to finish a 1,5 length third.
However, out of the corner of his eye Randolph could see Black Arthur powering home towards the inside.
He said, “He looked like a Ferrari, horses just don’t do that.”
The bookmakers agreed and have made Black Arthur the new big race favourite.
Kannemeyer arrived in KZN last year without believing he had a serious July horse and ended up winning it with Power King.
He is in similar territory this year and his four current entries are Mambo Mime, Cape Speed, Solid Speed, Balance Sheet and It Is Written.
Kannemeyer will likely never again have as good a horse as his first July winner Dynasty.
Mambo Mime (Nkosi Hlophe)
His second July winner Eyeofthetiger arrived in KZN proven in both class and stamina capacity, having finished a narrow third in the Cape Derby.
Cape Speed looks to have the stamina capacity, but still has to prove his class.
Mambo Mime, who was coming of a win in the Gr 3 Byerley Turk on Friday night, is now proven in class, but not stamina capacity.
Balance Sheet could be a dark horse as one who has won over 1600m and finished second in last year’s Gold Cup over 3200m. He is a four-year-old gelding by Silvano, like Power King was last year. Another common point is his arrival in the province with a merit rating of 100. However, Power King cantered to victory in his pipe opener over 1400m at Scottsville last year, before booking his place with a runner up spot in the Betting World 1900, while Balance Sheet has already had two runs and has been unplaced in both.
Five-year-old Solid Speed, who is by the great Dynasty, has an even more similar profile to Power King. He arrived in the province rated 100, won his pipe opener at Scottsville, albeit over 1600m, and he also has proven class over 2400m.
It Is Written is also a five-year-old gelding by Dynasty and has won eight races from 1400-1800m. He has started his Champions Season in fine style, which has seen his merit rating rise from 99 to 102.
Randolph is looking towards Kannemeyer for his July horse again and will have some difficult choices to make in the next few weeks.
The first question most South African jockeys are asked when introduced to a stranger is, “Have you won the July?”
Randolph is now among the privileged few who can answer “yes”.
Solid Speed (Nkosi Hlophe)
He said sometimes this fact seemed surreal and he often asked himself, “Did I really do it?”
Last year the field almost resembled a rolling maul in the straight, for despite the track being narrower the jockeys all made a bee line for the outside.
Randolph said jockeys knew what to expect on July day in terms of crowd noise, but horses obviously did not.
In his opinion tiring horses in the July tend to roll away from the grandstand noise.
The best traffic avoiding run for those coming from off the pace can therefore usually be found on the outside of horses.
In the past switching outward off the false rail would have put one near the middle of the track.
However, on the narrower track, and with last year’s false at four or five metres, this instinctive tactic led to congestion on the outside.
Hopefully, the decision already made to limit the false rail to a maximum of one metre this year will hopefully solve the problem.
However, one certainty is jockeys these days need to do extra homework studying the final carded July field.
By David Thiselton
