David Thiselton
The final field of 18 runners plus two reserves for the Hollywoodbets Durban July will be decided by the expert panelists today, but just before the embargoing process was put in place at 11 a.m. this morning (Monday) there was the shock scratching of the fancied Justin Snaith-trained Happy Verse, who was due to be ridden by the young Australia-based sensation Zac Lloyd.
Snaith Racing could not be reached for comment before going to press with this news and it is not clear whether Lloyd, who is the son of former Durban-based jockey legend Jeff Lloyd, will be given the ride on another one of their contenders.
The scratching will have been a blow to Snaith Racing, but in another sense it could be a blessing in disguise, because it will give one of their most fancied runners, Regulation, a better chance of making the top 18.
Regulation was number 20 on the last log.
He will still have to leapfrog one other horse to get a top 18 position, because Happy Verse is the only one of the top 19 on the last log to have come out.
It would not be surprising if Zac Lloyd does take the ride on Regulation if the Legislate gelding gets in considering his regilar pilot JP van der Merwe has not shone on him in his two starts at Hollywoodbets Greyville recently in the WSB 1900 and the Betgames Cup Trial, both of which he was expected to win, although he was reported to have “choked up” in the Cup Trial.
On the other hand the lightweight rider JP van der Merwe does ride to 52kg, which Regulation will be set to carry, and he is not only contracted to Regulation’s owners Greg and Gina Bortz, but he has also won a Hollywoodbets Durban July for them with Oriental Charm two years ago.
There were two other scratchings before the embargoing process took place, Shoot The Rapids and Tenpenny, but they were both outside of the top 20 on the final log, so their scratchings would likely at the most have only had an impact on the reserve runner positions in the final field selection process.
The final field selection panel consists of chairman Raf Sheik (Race Coast), Lennon Maharaj (NHA Chief Handicapper), Aveen Sewpersad (Race Coast), Kurt Felix (Race Coast), Lennon Maharaj( NHA Chief Handicapper), Gabriel Soma (4Racing) and Luciano Passerini (4Racing).
