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Please Note: South African Quartet Pools with fractional betting offered at Pontefract and Windsor (UK) – 29 June 2026

Andrew Harrison

It is always satisfying for trainers and their staff when they get to the bottom of a difficult and hopefully talented individual so Dean Kannemeyer’s third winner on yesterday’s Hollywoodbets Scottsville racecard was the most significant for the yard as Hah Lah Lah showed his potential and a more mature racing attitude when winning the B Stakes over 1200m.

It was stable rider Craig Zackey’s fourth winner of the afternoon and he was full of praise for his mount who was recording his third win from just four starts.

Zackey said of Hah Lah Lah, “He shouldn’t be winning 12’s, he wants a mile, 1800m. He’s been a hard horse to deal with from a youngster with the gates and with his mouth. Last run back in a small field we tried to get him to switch off (he took a hold and never settled) but first thing when I got back here I asked Mr Kannemeyer what made the change and he said ‘I just found this bit’ and cantering down to the start I thought something’s working well.”

Zackey reiterated that Hah Lah Lah should not be winning 12’s as he is a Classic type of horse.

Smart Best Of All made a race of it as he was in contention all the way to the line but Hah Lah Lah was just warming up and he went past to win well.

Educator was Kannemery’s second winner and has always given the impression that she is better than her earlier form would suggest. Yesterday she scored a bloodless win in the Class 3, shouldering top weight in a field of useful fillies. Log-leading rider Zackey placed her in mid-field as Ovation Star set the fractions but the writing was on the wall a long way out. As Gavin Lerena’s arms starting to pump and wave and Zackey was sitting with a handful. The gap opened up like the Red Sea for Moses and Educator went through to win as she liked with Tomyris chasing hard to snatch second.

Back on the turf on a straight course, the first two races on the card for juveniles attracted maximum fields and form followers would do well to watch numerous replays as there was a lot to decipher and fill the black book.

The first was marred by a loose horse as replacement rider Athandiwe Mgudlwa came off Asgardian Queen at the jump and the filly was all over the place giving Callan Murray on the well fancied Dancing Party a nightmare ride as Asgardian Queen forced him to check badly on two occasion which may well have cost him the race. Mgudlwa was stood down for the rest of the meeting.

Zackey, riding a typical  race aboard the Kannemeyer trained Turn To The Law, waited his chance in the pack before setting sail to take the lead close home and win rather comfortably. The strapping filly Egolee made an eye-catching debut running into second with a few eye-catchers behind her.

Coast Of The Sun is a reserve runner in the Grade 2 Omoda Golden Horseshoe next Saturday but unfortunately third reserve so unlikely to get a run, but his form was franked as Peter Muscutt’s strongly fancied Benny And Paul put plenty of daylight between him, Prized Possession with the balance of the field out with the washing. Prized Possession tried to make a race of it but two backhands were enough to galvanise Benny And Paul to streak away and win as he liked.

Sean Veale deputizing for Mgudlwa, made all the running on Red Hot Miss in the first leg of the PA, taking Darryl Moore’s filly to the front from the jump. Bai Yulu loomed dangerous a furlong out but once Veale asked for maximum, Red Hot Miss responded with an extra effort to hold on to her lead from Bai Yulu and Indignation.

The first leg of the Pick 6 was not run at any great pace but favourite Day Two was always in contention as Cool Wind finally went around some reluctant early runners. Zackey was quick to challenge in the straight and Gareth van Zyl’s gelding kept finding under his top weight to hold off Shiny Bob. However, he failed to keep a straight course, Day Two shifting out inconveniencing a number of runners notably Global Movement with Mickaelle Michel having to snatch up.

All 15 runners were spread across the track in the Class 4 over 1500m and with 100 m left to run all of 10 of the runners were in with a chance. However, apprentice Mxolisi Mbuto, currently second on the national apprentice log, got Tony Rivalland’s mare to pick it up over the final 50m to pull clear for the 50^th win of his career and now joins the big time as he now loses his claim.

Splash Of Love stayed on for second from Hop Hop Spinnekop who came from way back to snatch the minor placing.

There was a desperately close finish to the eighth. Apprentice Qiniso Ngcobo, hunting his first winner, got the ride on Louis Goosen’s reserve runner Don Querari and looked to have pinched a winning lead entering the final furlong. However, Sean Veale, deputizing for Andrew Fortune, got Street Outlaw to respond to reel in his rival and get the gelding’s nose down on the line.

David Thiselton

 

The Gr 3 Post Merchants will be one of the most interesting races on Hollywoodbets Durban July day, but the conditions of the race mean the highest rated horses are ostensibly slung in.

 

The highest rated horse in the land, the 132-rated twice Gr 1-winning sprinter Buffalo Storm Cody, is thus very well in at the weights, and second best in is Dave The King, who is the most interesting runner, followed by Tenango and Princess Of Gaul, who are joint third best in.

 

The race has merit-rated band conditions with one key difference.

 

Usually the horses that are higher rated than the highest band are allotted half-a-kilogram for every point they are above that highest band.

 

However, the highest band in this case reads “122 or more … 62kg”.

 

That band would normally read 122 to 126 and under the normal rules for merit-rated band events Buffalo Storm Cody would be carrying 65kg as he is six points higher than the top rating of the highest band. So, he is ostensibly 3kg well in carrying 62kg.

 

Dave The King would normally be carrying 63kg, but carries 62kg, so is 1kg better off than normal, but is 2kg under sufferance with Buffalo Storm Cody.

 

Tenango is merit rated 126, so he is top of what the band would normally be, but is officially 3kg under sufferance with Buffalo Storm Cody.

 

Equally well treated with the latter is the crack filly Princess Of Gaul, who is 114-rated but gets a 2,5kg gender allowance.

 

The worry about Buffalo Storm Cody is that he might be using it as a preparation for the Gr 1 Mercury Sprint, which he appeared to do last year because last year he only ran a 1,65 length fourth in this race carrying 56kg, meaning he was 5,5kg better off than weight for age with the highest rated runner, and he then came out and won the weight for age Mercury Sprint over the same course and distance by 1,60 lengths. Interestingly he jumped from draw 9 in the Mercury, the same draw he has in this year’s Post Merchants. This horse does appear at his best around the turn. Richard Fourie up is a bonus.

 

Dave The King is interesting, because although his best form is over a mile and middle distances he went at a blistering gallop in the L’Ormarins King’s Plate. It was a ridiculous pace, but he displayed his speed around the turn in that race as he went through the first 400m in a time just 1,7 seconds slower than the pacemaker and the winner of the Gr 1 World Pool Cape Flying Championship over 1000m. He has had four starts over 1200m in his career and won three of them easily and his only loss was when returning from a layoff and having a seasonal reappearance preparation run and running just 2,65 lengths behind former Post Merchants winner, the now 127-rated Gladatorian. Dave The King has drawn seven which should give him room to go to the front if quick enough and the latter is actually a concern, because of course leading over 1200m is a different ball game to leading over 1600m.

 

Tenango ran a good 1,95 length seventh in the Gr 2 Golden Horse Sprint, where he carried topweight. That should have brought him on for this race and he has a plum draw of five. Keagan de Melo is contracted to part-owner Laurence Wernars and takes the ride here having not ridden him in the Golden Horse. He will likely be all out to win this race as the Mercury will be a lot tougher, although he did show his class and course and distance suitability by finishing a fine second in the latter race last year, despite jumping from draw 13. Tenango looks to be a massive runner.

 

Princess Of Gaul is also a big runner carrying just 55,5kg and jumping from draw three under Craig Zackey. She won the Gr 2 World Pool With Race Coast Debutante over course and distance last year in just her second career start. Last time out she showed he class over this trip by finishing just 2,60 lengths behind Asiye Phambili and Double Grand Slam in the Gr 1 SA Fillies Sprint. If the latter pair were in the Merchants they would likely be the two favourites so with Princess Of Gaul beaten by that margin under weight for age conditions and now being 4kg better off than weight for age conditions with the first three mentioned she should also be a massive runner.

 

Cafe Culture is a former winner of this race, but is officially 4kg under sufferance with Buffalo Storm Cody and has a tough draw of 13, but he should be kicking on if managing to find cover in a handy position.

 

One of the joint topweights is the 122-rated Outlaw King, who is thus officially 5kg under sufferance with Buffalo Storm Cody. However, he is ultra courageous and often defies the official weights, as he did when a 1.05 length third in the Cape Flying. His last run in the Golden Horse is best ignored as he stumbled at the start.

 

Cats Pajamas is also rated 122 and has a fine course and distance record and was just a 1,75 length fourth in the Mercury last year. However, he has the widest draw of all.

 

Speedman is rated only 105 and carrying 54kg is officially 6kg under sufferance with Buffalo Storm Cody, but he is an up and coming sort who could prove better than rated, so he is the dark horse.

 

One Eye On Vegas was third in the Golden Horse and finds himself officially 4,5kg under sufferance with Buffalo Storm Cody, but he is a progressive sort with speed and class so should be running on from draw 11.

 

Jet Force is also a classy sort who could surprise dropped down in trip. He is 4,5kg under sufferance with Buffalo, but is well drawn.

 

Jerusalema Rain beat Buffalo Storm Cody by a neck in the Gr 2 Senor Santa over 1160m, but is now 4kg worse off.

 

The ones mentioned are the ones who make the most appeal and the selection is Buffalo Storm Cody to beat Tenango with Princess Of Gaul, Speedman and Jet Force next best.

Hollywoodbets Greyville Saturday 4 July 2026. Net Pick 6 Carryover R2 Million. Estimated Pool: R15 Million. Race 4 off at 13h40.

Hollywoodbets Greyville Saturday 4 July 2026. Net Quartet Carryover R1 Million. Estimated Pool: R10 Million. Race 7 off at 16h00.