RACE 1

3 ENGELANDPARK 12 GINGER ROOD 1 TANZANITE 6 TIMELINE

Preview: 3 ENGELANDPARK disappointed last time against a good sort but on her previous best form she has a chance although she still has to prove she can handle turf as well as the poly. 12 GINGER ROOD has poor form in Cape Town but might be able to earn in this lesser centre. 1 TANZANITE has the form to be a contender here. 6 TIMELINE is always thereabouts and has a fair opportunity here. (David Thiselton 3-12-1-6)

RACE 2

11 WILD STAR 4 FATEFUL LOVE 2 CAMDEN SQUARE 8 PRINCESS OF AJIAAL

Preview: 11 WILD STAR has run two fine races and will be hard ti beat here. 4 FATEFUL LOVE is by Master Of My Fate out of a USA-bred Cape Blanco mare. 2 CAMDEN SQUARE has four lengths to make up on Wild Star and could earn. 8 PRINCESS OF AJIAAL made a fair debut and has a chance. (David Thiselton 11-4-2-8)

RACE 3

1 SPLICETHEMAINBRACE 2 ENCHANTING CHOICE 4 AVERNIAN GODDESS 3 EPIKLEROS

Preview: 1 SPLICETHEMAINBRACE is a prolific winner and bounced back to her best last time so can follow up. 2 ENCHANTING CHOICE is not far off Splicethemainbrace. 4 AVERNIAN GODDESS won i fine style last time and looks to be coming into her own. 3 EPIKLEROS beat Enchanting Choice narrowly last time but is now 4,5kg worse off. (David Thiselton 1-2-4-3)

RACE 4

9 MONT TREMBLANT 4 PICK A POMODORO 5 MYSTIC VISION 6 ONE SUMMER

Preview: 9 MONT TREMBLANT has been knocking hard in Open Maidens and could get it right here. 4 PICK A POMODORO has hard-knocking form and should be right there. 5 MYSTIC VISION beat Pick A Pomodoro last time and must now confirm the form. 6 ONE SUMMER loved the step up to this trip last time in an Open Maiden. (David Thiselton 9-4-5-6)

RACE 5

1 TERMINAL VELOCITY 2 PLAYMAKER 8 STRAIGHT RED 6 SATELLITE WORLD

Preview: 1 TERMINAL VELOCITY is knocking hard and has a fine opportunity here over a trip she should enjoy. 2 PLAYMAKER enjoyed the step up to 1600m last time and might take to this marathon trip too. 8 STRAIGHT RED enjoyed the step up to 2000m last time and can confirm the form by placing here. 6 SATELLITE WORLD has run some fair races in Cape Town so should earn here. (David Thiselton 1-2-8-6)

RACE 6

5 OVERTURE 6 AMERICAN MATADOR 9 ORIGINATOR 1 KEY NEWS

Preview: 5 OVERTURE won well on debut and could follow up. 6 AMERICAN MATADOR won a nice race last time and was a hard-knocker before that.  9 ORIGINATOR could earn in this line up. 1 KEY NEWS has shown some ability land could earn. (David Thiselton 5-6-9-1)

RACE 7

2 NORTH STAR 1  HAPPY WIVES 3 SMASHING 6 ICED MARMALADE

Preview: 2 NORTH STAR 1 has been knocking on the door for some time and could get it right at last.1  HAPPY WIVES has good dorm and should be right there. 3 SMASHING can go close if producing his best. 6 ICED MARMALADE can earn if repeating the form of his easy in last time. (David Thiselton 2-1-3-6)

RACE 8

1 BAD MEDICINE 2 JUAN CARLOS 6 CURTISS CONDOR 7 ANATOLIAN SILVER

Preview: 1 BAD MEDICINE is in fine form and can make it a hattrick. 2 JUAN CARLOS is evergreen and should finish on top of Bad Medicine at these wights. 6 CURTISS CONDOR looks to have scope for further progress so can step from his win last time.  7 ANATOLIAN SILVER has talent and could earn from a good draw. (David Thiselton 1-2-6-7)

Andrew Harrison

Many top jockeys will attest that their mere presence in the saddle has bookmakers strangling prices; ask now retired multiple champion jockey Anton Marcus. Questioned about the market support for Sardinia Bay, current champion jockey Richard Fourie was blunt.  “Everything I ride and Mr Ennion trains will start short. It’s the norm.”

In truth, there were only six runners in the Middle Stakes that headed the card at Hollywoodbets Durbanville yesterday and Sardinia Bay was probably the only real option available to Fourie’s agent Ken Nichol, who incidentally guided the rider to his record breaking championship tally last season, and Fourie made the most of it, giving the gelding a top ride.

The pace was always going to be on from the jump and Fourie was content to ease off the gallop before making his move. Sardinia Bay hit the front some way out but he won under the hands from the game mare Candy Town. It was a top draw display from rider and horse.

Fancied North Point, jumped slowly and was never in the hunt, not making any impression on the leaders and finishing out of the money.

If Fourie gave Sardinia Bay a tremendous ride, he out-did himself on Moody Blue for Mike Stewart in the C Stakes for a quick double. When Fourie becomes animated and ‘bouncing’ in the saddle, you know that he is giving it absolutely all and it proved to be enough as he kept Moody Blue going just long enough to hold a late-charging Catch A Penny and Chad Little who came from last to failed by the shortest of short-heads.

Calvin Habib is not a regular visitor to Cape Town but he paid for his airfare winning a smart race for Adam Marcus on Fort Yukon in the first, the first of two for Marcus with Dream Searcher in the sixth adding to his afternoon’s tally.

Having ridden the gelding at his previous start, Habib was confident with what he had under him, taking the lead early and punching for home at the top of the straight. Love From Afar and Bourbon King tried hard to make a race of it but Fort Yukon kept finding and eventually drew off to win comfortably.

Ennion was in the winner’s enclosure for the second time as Miss World blew them all away in the Progress Plate. Ridden by former Durban View Room waiter, apprentice Sifiso Bungane who has 18 winners under his belt, the daughter of One World came from off the pace and finished with a wet sail putting plenty of daylight between herself and Tulip Fields and Wander Dune.

All the money was Fourie’s mount Goodnessgraciousme but the gamble went astray. After threatening briefly she faded out of contention.

David Thiselton

The Gr 1weight for age  HF Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut Stakes, to be run over 1600m at Turffontein Standside on Saturday, will have its best field for many a season, even if there are only nine runners.

The Gr 1 SA Classic and Gr 1 Wilgerbosdrift SA Fillies Classic have also attracted smallish but quality fields.

The Horse Chestnut shapes as a mile championship featuring the L’Ormarins King’s Plate winner The Real Prince against See It Again, who was an unlucky 0,25 length third in the King’s Plate before winning the WSB Met.

The Highveld challenge is led by Main Defender, who defeated the subsequently named Equus Horse Of The Year Dave The King by 2,75 lengths when winning this race in 2024.

Last year’s winner and runner up, Cosmic Speed and Texas Red are also in the line up.

There is also the reigning Highveld Horse Of The Year Fire Attack, whose King’s Plate run can be ignored as his preparation was interrupted and he proved it was all wrong when bouncing back to win first time out back on the Highveld.

His Alec Laird-trained stablemate Atticus Finch, a former Gr 1 Betway Summer Cup winner, was impressive when waltzing home to a three length win in this season’s Gr 2 Allied- Steelrode Onamission Charity Mile, despite carrying topweight.

The 117-rated three-year-old Tin Pan Alley has been preferred for this race as it is probably a more suitable trip for him than the Gr 1 SA Classic over 1800m.

The field is completed by Pressonregardless, who is outgunned on paper, but he has come into his own this season and possesses a lot of class.

See It Again is officially rated 130, so is officially 1kg better off with The Real Prince, who is rated 128.

On L’Ormarin’s King’s Plate form it is The Real Prince who emerges the victor by 0,25 lengths, but See It Again had to wait a tad to get into top gear in that race due to Dave The King falling back on him and that might have made the difference between victory and defeat.

On WSB Met form See It Again emerges the victor as The Real Prince was beaten 1,25 lengths into third.

See It Again had tough draws in both the King’s Plate and the Met, ten out of 14 and ten out of ten, and he has now drawn eight out of nine.

The draw should not bother him as he has a magnificent turn of foot.

Richard Fourie replaces the injured Andrew Fortune, a world class jockey for a world class jockey, so that is a further bonus to See It Again’s chances.

The Real Prince, who is also a Hollywoodbets Durban July winner, drew six in both the KIng’s Plate and Met and is now drawn seven. He also has a magnificent turn of foot and has his regular world class rider in Craig Zackey up.

Main Defender has his second run after a long layoff and came last in his comeback over 1160m in a small field. He has an exhilarating turn of foot at his best and has drawn well in four with the world class reigning champion jockey Gavin Lerena up.

Fire Attack will be running on strongly from draw five under Calvin Habib.

Cosmic Speed drew three when winning last year under Zackey and is now drawn six under Ryan Munger. However, he has 3,45 lengths and 3,20  lengths to make up on The Real Prince and See It Again respectively from King’s Plate form.

Texas Red was drawn five last year and has pole position this year with Matsunyane retaining the ride, but its a much tougher field.

If the Atticus Finch who won the Charity Mile turns up, he must have a chance from draw three, but he hasn’t been seen since being pulled up with something amiss in the Summer Cup. He was also last in the July, after having epistaxis.

Tin Pan Alley beat older horses in the Gr 2 Betway Jo’Burg Spring Challenge over 1450m, but Atticus Finch emerges better here at the weights on the form of that race and Tin Pan Alley might prefer the shorter 1450m trip. However, he has drawn well in two and Keagan de Melo is up.

Pressonregardless has Callan Murray up, but not only has to jump from draw nine out of nine, but he is officially 10,5kg under sufferance with the best in See It Again. He can’t be completely discounted though because this long-striding sort will relish the fast pace generated by a better class of horse, provided he finds cover from that wide draw.

In the SA Classic the highest rated horse, Gr 1 Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas winner Jan van Goyen, has draw well in three out of nine, while his Jackpot City Dingaans conqueror Trust has drawn two. The Gr 2 Gauteng Guineas one-two Splittheeights and Grand Empire have drawn eight and one respectively while other likely fancied horses One Eye On Vegas and the exciting but unexposed Errol Flynn have draw seven and six respectively.

In the Wilgerbosdrift SA Fillies Classic Hazy Dazy has drawn four out of ten in her bid to keep her Wilgerbosdrift Triple Tiara hopes alive.

David Thiselton

The Hollywoodbets Durban July conditions have been finalised and the final field panellists might be in for an interesting evening before the Final Field And Barrier Draw Ceremony, whilst the three-year-olds look to be on the back foot at present.

There will be a longer handicap this year with a 10kg spread in the weights from a topweight of 62kg down to a bottom weight of 52kg.

Furthermore, it will just be a straight handicap, unlike recent July conditions in which there was a maximum and minimum weight for certain age groups and genders.

If the final field happens to have a spread that is less than 10kg, the topweight will still be 62kg. If, for example, there is a weight spread of 7kg among the entries, then the bottom weight will be 55kg.

If the topweights are scratched after the setting of the weights, then the new topweight will be dragged up to 62kg. For example if the topweight after scratchings is 60,5kg, it will be dragged up to 62kg and after the rest of the field have been dragged up the bottom weight will become 53,5kg.

The final field will not necessarily be chosen by merit rating order.

Justin Vermaak, Executive Racing and Bloodstock of Race Coast, said, “There will be a final field selection panel like before and merit rating will be a leading aspect, but the panel will also take current form and distance suitability into account etc.”

In recent years the final field panellists have not had it too tough as the field was cut up before the final field announcement, with a lot of horses being scratched due to the recognition by the connections they do not have much chance, either due to the weights not favouring them or due to them being off form – the final declaration fee could have, in those cases, been considered a waste of money.

However, with the longer handicap, there are going to be more horses who still have form chances on paper.

Looking at last year’s July for example, third-placed Selukwe was rated 111 and had to carry 54kg due to the condition that the minimum weight for an older male was 54kg. He was thus 2kg under sufferance with the 127-rated topweights, both older horses, and he was 4kg under sufferance with the officially best weighted horse, the 129 rated (nett 125-rated) Eight On Eighteen, who was set to carry 57kg despite being the highest merit rated horse in the race due to a condition that three-year-old males could not carry more than 57kg.

In last year’s race Oriental Charm carried 60kg, Eight On Eighteen carried 57kg and Selukwe carried 54kg.

Under this year’s conditions the weights for those three horses would have been: Oriental Charm 62kg, Eight On Eighteen 61kg and Selukwe 54kg. Selukwe would have been 2kg and 4kg better off with Oriental Charm and Eight On Eighteen respectively under today’s conditions.

He would have been 2kg better off with the winner The Real Prince too and, on paper, would have been beaten 0,30 lengths instead of by 2,65 lengths.

There could theoretically have been a horse who would have been even more favoured by today’s conditions than the 111-rated Selukwe example.

Using last year’s race under today’s conditions, an older horse who had been rated 107 would sneak into the handicap under today’s conditions.

A 107-rated older horse last year would have had to carry 54kg, 6kg less than the topweight, but under today’s conditions it would have only had to carry 52kg, which would be 10kg less than the 62kg topweight.

Therefore, there are theoretically going be a lot more horses standing their ground at the time of the final field selection process this year, because a lot more of them will have chances of winning on paper than would have been the case under the old conditions.

Furthermore, with stakes of R10 million up for grabs there will be less cases of horses being scratched due to the  connections deeming them to be off form. They might still want to take their chances.

The difficulty for the panel will come in deciding whether a lower rated horse is deemed to have better recent form or better distance suitability than a higher rated horse.

For argument sakes let’s assume that we go back to last year and there are still many horses standing their ground until the bitter end. After the top 17 are selected, according to the last log and current form, let’s assume the next two horses are the 115-rated Madison Valley and the 120-rated The Real Prince.

The Real Prince is rated five points higher than Madison Valley, but he has never run a race beyond 1600m before.

Madison Valley on the other hand finished a close fourth in the Betway Summer Cup over 2000m and in his final run before the July he won the traditional July pointer, the Hollywoodbets Dolphins Cup Trial over 1800m.

Which one are they going to put in the all important 18th slot?

Such a scenario is going to have much more chance of happening this year.

Although it has been said that weight avoidance tactics are going to be used this year, those who do take that route are probably going to run a bigger risk of not qualifying than ever before.

Now on to the three-year-olds.

Eight On Eighteen was held in high regard last year and came into the race 2kg well-in, according to official merit ratings, and yet he was not able to win the race.

Under today’s conditions he would have had to carry 61kg, effectively 2kg more.

So it was tough last year for a top, top three-year-old who was favoured by the old conditions.

How tough will it be for good-but-not-great three-year-olds under the new conditions, considering there is no maximum weight for them and no minimum weight for older horses?

Likewise it will be tough for females.

Furthermore, this year’s three-year-old crop are arguably overrated off their current merit ratings.

For example, Gauteng Guineas runner up Grand Empire could not win the Wolf Power 1600 against older horses when 2kg under sufferance off a 102 merit rating (effectively a 106 merit rating), yet he is now rated 120. There will be cries of “but the handicapper is clueless” when looking at that, but those who do say that are clueless themselves, because the handicapper rates a race on that race, not on past races, and Tin Pan Alley had earned his 117 rating by beating older horses and Grand Empire had then beaten him. Furthermore, Grand Empire was likely not at his peak for the Wolf Power with the Triple crown series looming.

Nevertheless, the overall impression is the current three-year-old male crop is not shining and it is questionable whether any of them have properly earned a rating of 120 or above.

It could well be an older horse July, but on the other hand there is an impressive unexposed horse like Note To Self among the three-year-olds and more such types might emerge.

The build up to this year’s Hollywoodbets Durban July is going to be more intriguing than ever!

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.