Andrew Harrison

After winning the first at Hollywoodbets Greyville yesterday, anyone who was paying attention will have included Magma Magic in their exotic calculations with Tony Rivalland intimating that the gelding was in the ‘right’ race, the KRA Cup.

A horse with a mind of his own, a bit of a ‘thinker’ according to Tristan Godden, he broke quickly and immediately into the lead. Given comfortable early fractions, there was still lots to come in the straight and helped along by a brisk tailwind, he was not for the catching chased home by Jazz Festival and World Of Our Own.

Wild At War was sent to Alyson Wright by Candice and Tammy Dawson from the Highveld specifically to take advantage of the poly track but when the right race is programmed for poly or turf one has to take advantage.

Narrowly beaten first up on the poly, Wright put the finishing touches to Wild At War who got home in a tight finish to the Conditions Plate over 1400m.

One could throw the proverbial blanket over the first four across the line, but Muzi Yeni rode a driving finish to snatch victory on Wild At War and deny Adam Azzie his first win in KZN and as a trainer in his own right with Gimmefabulous beaten a head and Rollo The Viking and pacemaker Cymric disputing the shallow end of the purse but beaten less than a length.

Wright had another race on the poly planned before deciding that Wild At War should take his chances here so the gelding should be fully primed for his next assignment.

Azzie did not have to wait long to finally crack his first winner as Keagan de Melo made all the running on Thought Control, assisted by a strong tail wind up the straight, to hold off challenges from Spirit Of Shimla and Psyche, both putting in their best work late.

In the card opener, Deepest Water put up her hand as a filly to follow with a convincing victory for Tony Rivalland and one of the doyens of South African racing, Mary Liley. It was something of an upset result for punters with Deepest Water one of the rank outsiders but she made short work of the more fancied runners Red Cardinal and Bourbon’s Beast with favourite Flag Champ unlucky not to finish a lot closer after S’Manga Khumalo was forced to snatch his mount up with the gap on the inside rail snapping shut.

De Melo was quickly back in the winner’s enclosure riding a confident race aboard Perfume Power for Duncan Howells in the fourth. Quickly out from a wide draw, De Melo tracked the lightly weighted Arverni Princess and always had Louis Goosen’s mare in his sights. The two fought out the finish but De Melo always had things in control, never resorting to the stick as Perfume Princess gradually got the better of her rival to win comfortably.

Having the fiftieth start of his career, the seven-year-old Smorgasbord put it all together for this fifth win of his career to land the C Stakes over 1000m for Goosen. Blazing Beauty set a blistering gallop with Chara Sands and City Of Love trying to keep up. Deryl Daniels, who doesn’t get many chances these days, commented post-race that he was sitting fourth on Smorgasbord but ten lengths off the pace. Given the gallop, it was always going to come down to who could keep going but all were treading water as Smorgasbord kept finding and running them all out of it with Chara Sands staying on best of all for second and Goosen’s second string Blazing Fury making late progress for third.

Front running tactics were the order of the day and with the tailwind getting stronger as the afternoon wore on, it was no surprise that Craig Zackey sent Mountainsofthemoon for the lead in the seventh, one that she never relinquished. It got a little sweaty over the final furlong with Mississippi Space closing in but Mountainsofthemoon was never in any real danger of being caught.

There was some drama at the start with the course vets checking out the fancied Flying Rain Storm and declaring her lame behind and not fit to run.

It was three up for De Melo in the last and one of the best rides of the day as Happy Fortune landed the gamble for Darryl Moore. De Melo, had earlier stated that Happy Fortune was his best ride of the afternoon. He may have had a few doubters as he dropped Happy Fortune out from the jump and only one behind him heading for the home turn. However, he knew what he had under him, slowly reeling in the opposition and timing his run to perfection in a polished ride.

David Thiselton

The Corne Spies-trained three-year-old filly Elegantrix gave the stallion phenomenon Vercingetorix his eleventh stakes winner of the season when winning the Listed Betway Swallow Stakes for three-year-old fillies over 1200m on the Vaal straight course on Saturday.

It has also been a fine season for Marsh Shirtliff’s Greenacres Trust and Hemel ‘N Aarde Stud, who bred Elegantrix in partnership. Marsh stands his mares at David Hepburn Brown’s Hemel ‘N Aarde Stud and sometimes partners with the latter in the owning of mares, like they did with Elegantrix’s dam. Other winners Greenacres Trust have bred this season are the Gr 1 WSB Cape Fillies Guineas winner Quickstepgal (Vercingetorix). Marsh has also done some breeding out of Australia in the past and one of the horses he bred was the exciting Australian-bred St Harry (Harry’s Angel), who was hugely impressive on debut at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth last week. Greenacres Trust also bred  the Gr 1 winner from last season Fiery Pegasus, who has only had one start this season.

Vercingetorix broke a record for stakes winners last season with 23 black type winners and they won 33 black type races between them.

This season the reigning champion sire’s eleven black type winners have won 13 black type races between them and as the halfway mark of the season has not yet been reached he is on his way to breaking his own record.

Elegantrix was impressive from day one and was also a black type winner in her juvenile season.

After winning on debut, she later won the Gr 3 Godolphin Barb Stakes against the boys over 1100m, beating the subsequent Gr 1 Gold Medallion winner Good For You.

In her next start she finished a 1,10 length second in the Gr 1 Allan Robertson Championship behind Direct Hit with One Fine Winter 0,30 lengths behind her in third place.

She suffered a terrible trip in her next start in the Gr 2 Omada Golden Horseshoe over 1400m against the boys, but bounced back with a narrow second to Princess Of Gaul in the Gr 2 World Pool With Race Coast Debutante over 1200m.

She began this season with a 0,90 length second to World Of Alice in a Graduation Plate over 1450m, but she seemed a bit below par in her next four starts with a 3,30 length second in a Graduation Plate over 1400m to the useful One Eye On Vegas being her next best finish.

It was thus not surprising that she was only third favourite with bookmakers on Saturday at 33/10 behind the 28/10 pair One Fine Winter and Anchorage, although the tote favourite was Rifle Queen, who was returning from a layoff after easily winning her first two starts in July and August last year.

The jockeys generally went to the inside throughout the day in the races down the straight, so Elegantrix’s relatively low draw of five was advantageous.

However, it was Rifle Queen blazing a lone trail on the outside who led for most of the way. Elegantrix led the inside bunch and Ryan Munger angled her towards the far rail. She shook off the horse who had the rail, the 100/1 outsider Season’s Greetings, and went clear of the inside bunch.

It was soon clear One Fine Winter, who had to negotiate a high draw of eight, was going nowhere. Anchorage had the advantageous number one draw, but she proved quirky in her last start when trying to bite the winner close to home, and on Saturday she never really got into it.

Elegantrix used her big stride well in the finish and got the better of Rifle Queen by 1,50 lengths with Season’s Greeting beaten 2,40 lengths into third ahead of Perfect Miracle and Malibu.

Raced by Trevelen Pillay’s TKP Racing, Rob Macnab, Braam van Huyssteen, & S Poriazis, Elegantrix was an R850 000 BSA National Two-year-old Sale graduate. She is out of the once winning Danehill Dancer mare, Elegantes, and is now a winner of three races with five places from her thirteen starts and she took her stakes earnings to R748 519.

Vercingetorix is on his way to a second national Sires title as he is already just under R4 million clear of the three-times champion sire Gimmethegreenlight.

Vercingetorix had a winners-to-runners percentage of 57.9% in his championship-winning season in 2024/2025, which was the highest on the log of those sires who had a significant number of runners and this season out of the top 20 sires on the log he is the highest in that statistic again on 41.7%, which shows that apart from breeding champions he is also consistent in producing good horses.

Among the top 20 on the log, he is second highest in the Average Earnings per runner statistic this season with his 216 runners to date earning an average of R75,057, with only Ideal World being higher on R120,558, although that is from 42 runners.

Vercingetorix should approach his last season’s Average Earnings Per Runner mark of R156,124 (for 247 runners), which was second only to the sire of Equus Horse Of The Year Eight On Eighteen, whose sire Lancaster Bomber’s Average Earnings Per Runner was 157,168.

Vercingetorix is without doubt the best sales stallion of all time in South Africa with his progeny averaging R1,435 million at the National Yearling Sale last year and R 1,661,364 in the Race Coast Sales March Yearling Sale Day One.

Will he become the best producing sire in SA history too, meaning he would likely have to surpass the feats of Jet Master?

Vercingetorix had a quick double at the Vaal meeting with the Mano Pandaram-trained Vanakkam winning the race that followed the Swallow Stakes.

David Thiselton

The 2026 Hollywoodbets Durban July will be a milestone one with the prize money doubled to R10 million and with a longer handicap introduced as the topweight will be upped to 62kg and bottom weight lowered to 52kg.

It will fittingly fall on the 30th anniversary of the centenary July, which turned out to be one of the greatest of all Julys as it was won by the legendary Alec Laird-trained London News, who went on to put South African racing on the map by winning the QE II Cup in Hong Kong.

The renowned South African wildlife painter Henk Vos released his celebrated work, the Painting Of The Century, depicting a century of July winners, after the July’s centenary running.

The iconic painting now hangs in the Classic Room at Hollywoodbets Greyville.

Alec Laird actually ordered one of the prints of the painting before it was completed as the print had the first of his great Uncle Syd Garrett’s five July winners on the left and the greatest of his father’s record seven July winners, Sea Cottage, was in the centre.

The right hand side just had a blank with a silhouette of a horse, because Vos did not know yet which horse he was going to paint there.

Alec, who trained out of Randjesfontein on the Highveld, related, “He hadn’t made up his mind what horse he was going to put in the last panel (the 20th panel) and he even said to me ‘I would like you to win the July because I would like to put you as the last painting.’ With about a year to go I said to him I’m not going to make it.’”

However, fate then had it that London News not only became the 14/10 favourite for the 100th running of the July, but he was also saddle cloth number 20, being the only three-year-old in the field and the bottom weight.

Piere Strydom recalled, “I remember at the traditional Friday night cocktail Henk Vos was there with his big painting and there was one spot left for the 100th winner and I can still remember saying to someone that I think my picture’s going to be up there.”

London News duly won the race and Alec, London News and Piere Strydom are now at the forefront of the famous painting’s 20th panel and the horse is fittingly carrying the no. 20 saddle cloth.

The London News story starts at the National Yearling Sale of 1994.

Alec recalled big owners Laurie and Jean Jaffee’s chief aim at that Sale was to buy a yearling by their own 1987 July winner, Bush Telegraph.

Alec recalled Harmony Forever being his number one choice at that Sale.

However, he remembered London News being “a nice horse.”

He added, “On the first day a Bush Telegraph colt called Mr Newspaperman went for about R300,000. London News looked more athletic and Jean Jaffee actually said to me, ‘What about this one?’ On the first day they didn’t get a horse, the second day they didn’t get one and the more they asked me about London News the nicer he got, because I was otherwise going to go home without a horse!”

The Jaffees managed to secure London News.

Alec recalled, “He was a light youngster and even as a three-year-old was quite light. He didn’t show immediately, but we always had the feeling that he would be a nice horse when he matured.”

In fact, London News made a particularly inauspicious debut, beaten no fewer than 16,5 lengths under Anton Marcus in a 1200m Maiden Juvenile Plate over 1200m at the Vaal on June 6, 1995.

However, he got better and better and when he smashed the Greyville 2000m course record, which still stands today, in the Gr 1 Daily News 2000, he had won six out of eleven starts including the Dingaans and two middle distance Gr 1s.

Piere Strydom was aboard for the Daily News 2000 too.

He reflected on the 1996 July, the first of his four victories in South Africa’s greatest race, “London News was a lekker horse to ride because he had gate speed, a lot of natural speed and he would travel right up there in front and he had a good kick. But at the top of the straight (having led) I thought with a light weight let me just let the reins go a bit and get a length or two for the short straight. But he accelerated way quicker than I had expected and that’s when he made up three or four lengths on the field. Obviously it was going to tell at the end and he was stopping quite badly at the end. I heard the horses coming and I was just hoping for the line and he held on.”

Alec added, “Mike Rattray had invited me to watch in his box because it was on the line and he won by a neck but my eyes wouldn’t believe it because there was so much pressure. I wanted to see the number up!”

Alec described the emotion of being on the honour roll together with his late record-breaking seven-time July-winning father Syd.

In fact his extended family is comfortably the most prolific July-winning family in history with his grandfather Alec winning one as a jockey, his great Uncle Syd Garrett winning two as a jockey and three as a trainer, his father Syd winning a record seven as a trainer, and the cousins Dennis Drier, Alec Laird and Charles Laird each winning one July apiece – a total of 16 for the July dynasty.

Durban, South Africa – The countdown has begun! The 129th edition of Africa’s premier horse racing and social spectacular, the Hollywoodbets Durban July (HDJ), is set to take place on Saturday, 5th July 2025, at the iconic Hollywoodbets Greyville Racecourse. As the most anticipated fixture on South Africa’s racing calendar, the event seamlessly blends world-class horse racing with high fashion, entertainment, and a memorable social experience.

Staying true to the theme of “Marvels of Mzansi,” this year’s racing extravaganza promises an iconic line-up of South African talent, featuring a diverse array of artists set to captivate all attendees throughout the day. The national anthem will be beautifully performed by one of the country’s leading songstresses – look out for the reveal in May. With these performances, the thousands of attendees expected at Hollywoodbets Greyville will have a memorable experience. Stay tuned for the full artist line-up. All ticket holders can look forward to a day filled with live entertainment that will be talked about for years to come, as this year’s HDJ celebrates Mzansi’s vibrant spirit. 

Tickets for this outstanding event are now officially on sale via Ticketpro (www.ticketpro.co.za). Priced at R230 for general admission, your ticket grants access to a day of thrilling racing action, live entertainment, fashion showcases, gourmet food experiences, and an array of engaging activations from event partners. For added convenience, onsite parking is available for R170 per vehicle.

For those seeking an elevated experience, the VIP hospitality packages provide exclusive access to luxurious enclosures, premium viewing areas, and top-tier catering. These options can be explored on the official event website (www.hollywoodbetsdurbanjuly.co.za). Please note that VIP hospitality packages do not include general admission tickets, which must be purchased separately via Ticketpro.

This year’s theme, “Marvels Of Mzansi”, was unveiled in late February, marking the official commencement of the Hollywoodbets Durban July Fashion Experience, presented by Durban Fashion Fair. The fashion programme includes the much-anticipated HDJ Young Designer Award, showcasing the best up-and-coming talents from KwaZulu-Natal. The winners will share the spotlight with the HDJ Invited Designers and DFF Rising Stars at the HDJ Fashion Preview Gala, set to take place at Gateway Theatre of Shopping in late June.

Racing enthusiasts can also look forward to the announcement of the first official entrants on Wednesday, 23 April 2025. With last year’s champion, Oriental Charm, emerging as the early ante-post favourite, excitement is already building. 

Secure your tickets today and experience Africa’s greatest horse racing and social event, the Hollywoodbets Durban July!

All systems go on 1 January 2025

Horseracing in KwaZulu-Natal took the next step to the dawn of a new era with the publication on Thursday of a revitalized racing programme and the news of the introduction of incentives and stakes adjustments that will align the province with the status quo in the Cape.

The introduction of the new-look programme and policies on the East Coast comes into play as a result of the proposed acquisition of Gold Circle by the Hollywood Sportsbook Holdings group, which now hinges on the required approval of the KZN Economic Regulatory Authority (KZNERA).

Whilst the outstanding approval of the KZNERA is critical to the transaction, and will be the final step in transferring ownership, Hollywoodbets and its appointed Chairman Designate of Gold Circle, Greg Bortz are in management and strategic decisions during the interim period, with Hollywoodbets investing funds at its own risk to ensure the continuity of horse racing in KZN, and the survival of Gold Circle.

Programme and related reading matter, click here.

Subject to the fulfillment of other outstanding conditions precedent, the deal effectively unlocks a R500 million rescue injection from Hollywoodbets, and a takeover of the sport in the holiday province, which is set to include track upgrades and other infrastructural and operational initiatives.

The new KZN programme covers the period 1 January to 28 February 2025 and introduces the stakes-boosted class racing structure to the province, while unveiling financial incentives via the RaceCoast incentive scheme with the ultimate aim of improving racehorse ownership in KZN and achieving enhanced field sizes with the knock-on vital lifeblood of increased betting turnovers.

Down South, the RaceCape incentive programme has proven a winner and has underscored the unprecedented turnaround in Cape horseracing by providing further opportunities for the local racing community and increased employment prospects for grooms and work riders, as well as raising the bar for all related and ancillary horse racing services.

“We are very excited about future plans for KZN racing,” Cape Racing Executive: Racing & Bloodstock Justin Vermaak told the Sporting Post on Thursday, as he outlined broad plans to revolutionise the appeal of the sport across the board for all stakeholders in KZN.

“We need to provide owners and trainers with an even and attractive playing field that makes them want to race. Stakes and rewards need to be meaningful. That ultimately leads to better field sizes, more exciting racing and improved betting turnovers. Punters are key to the success of the process. We are implementing a first world reform in terms of transparency when it comes to information. Items like horse weights, for example, will be published. They are, after all, a form assessment tool. Horses working at our training centres and tracks will all have easily identifiable bar-coded saddle-cloths. So, there are no secrets. If Oriental Charm or One Stripe is on track, the public will share in it,” added Vermaak, who confirmed that barrier draws after acceptance was another operational change which would be implemented on 1 January 2025.

Veteran KZN trainer Garth Puller, who attended a recent stakeholder’s meeting at Summerveld hosted by Greg Bortz, Justin Vermaak, Gold Circle and Hollywoodbets officials, enthused that he was thrilled by the news of the takeover by business-minded racing people who were brave and bold enough to step in and turn the ship around.

“This has come very late for me at my age, but it’s a lifechanger and the future is brighter than it was yesterday,” reflected a delighted Puller as he told the Sporting Post that the adjusted stakes and ‘very welcome’ incentives would boost cash-flows,  while also making it so much easier to help him and his colleagues market the basic ownership product.

“And we are getting draws after acceptances. Wonderful! I was calling for that 25 years ago at Hollywoodbets Durbanville. Bigger fields mean a faster pace, means better form, means better truer results. It’s an ecosystem of positivity. It all feeds on itself,” added the horseman who is never scared to pass an opinion.

Puller said the repair of the Polytrack at Hollywoodbets Greyville was ‘definitely quite overdue and welcome news’.

“That’s our stage. The track must be safe for horse and rider, be true and competitive, and have credibility with all role-players. That’s not a negotiable.”

On the ‘abolition’ of the committee structure to facilitate decision making and policy, Puller said that he was so pleased to hear that all reasonable suggestions will be considered by management.

“Wonderful! So there are no more long-winded committees to hide behind and to dither over. How refreshing.  I believe every stakeholder in this sport in KZN needs to doff a cap to Hollywoodbets and Mr Bortz. This investment and takeover is a brave move. But we know that with the passion for horse racing of the local population in this province, we can make it work. And by putting the structures in place they are making sure we have no excuses. Let’s look forward and get on with rebuilding KZN racing. I am absolutely thrilled. This is good news,” he concluded.