Please Note: South African Quartet Pools with fractional betting offered at Aintree and Wolverhampton (UK) – 9 April 2026

David Thiselton

Siboniso “Bo” Ngcobo regards his first winner, Lightning Jimmy, as the official start of his professional training career as he had operated with just a couple of horses for a whole year before that and as Lightning Jimmy won on 17 March 2024 it means by Bo’s yardstick it took him just two years and a couple of weeks to land the first stakes winner of his career.

That first stakes winner was also his first Graded winner and was also his first ever runner outside of KZN as the Clifton Stud-bred colt Better Never Ends caused a massive 40/1 upset in the Gr 2 TAB SA Nursery over 1160m at Turffontein Standside on Saturday.

Bo can add two more feathers to his cap as he became the trainer of the KZN-based stallion Declarationofpeace’s first stakes winner and he also achieved the rare feat of winning a Gr 2 with a maiden.

That is not bad for a yard that currently only boasts a string of ten horses.

The race only had four runners having cut up for the probable reason that the R3 million Race Coast Slipper to be run this Saturday at Hollywoodbets Greyville provided an attractive alternative for some of the better two-year-olds around.

Nevertheless, Better Never Ends seemed a bit out of his depth having had six runs for two second places and two fourths in Maiden Juvenile Plates, while he had been comfortably beaten, although without being totally disgraced, in two Futurity Plate races.

However, Bo went into the race quietly confident and revealed, “He had been starting to mature and was starting to do things right. He is a November foal and initially taking him to the track had been quite a mission. But he was starting to know what was going on.”

Bo said he would not have transported him up to the race had he not believed in his ability.

He continued, “His track work had been outstanding before we took him to Jo’Burg. I knew he had the ability, but I was just worried about his maturity, although I knew the penny had been starting to drop”

The win was particularly rewarding for more reasons than one.

Bo explained, “My son Qiniso, who has just been licensed by SAJA to ride in races, has been doing a great job with him at track and he has built up a good understanding with Better Never Ends.”

He continued, “So I was more confident than ever before going into a race, but on the other hand there was just that little bit of doubt that he would act up being at a new track and I was concerned he might spook at new surroundings.”

However, the race panned out perfectly.

The 5/10 favourite was Gimme A Vodka, who was coming off a fine 1,70 length second to the biggest talking horse in the juvenile ranks, World Attraction, a Mike and Mathew de Kock-trained One World colt who has won both of his starts in effortless fashion.

The 9/4 second favourite was the Buffalo Bill Cody colt, the Bronx Bull, who won second time out and the form of that win had worked out exceptionally well.

The 25/2 third favourite in the small field was also a maiden, the United States gelding Kudikaran, but his 3,20 length place finish in his only start was behind the exciting prospect Turn It Up, a half-brother to Gr 1 winner Proceed, although admittedly he had received 3kg from Turn It Up.

In the race on Saturday Better Never Ends had the advantage of the standside draw.

There were a few other factors which had buoyed Bo’s confidence.

Firstly, the horse was wearing second time blinkers and had run well in them first time out in a 1400m event at Hollywoodbets Greyville,  finishing a 3,90 length fourth.

Secondly, Bo had run Better Never Ends often and he had always returned sound as a bell,so he had not had to do much with him at home and he knew he was a very fit horse.

Thirdly, he asked the physiotherapist Paige Janse van Rensburg, who works on his Hollywood-trained horse Eventidor, to do some work on Better Never Ends.

He said, “I noticed she had been doing  very good job for Hollywood, so I asked her to do some of my horses as well. She did physio on him and put tape on him to help with his blood circulation.”

Better Never Ends jumped superbly in the race and Muzi Yeni had him nice and relaxed.

He just sat on him and would have been pleased to see Gimme A Vodka and The Bronx Bull going eyeball to eyeball in front of him and it got better as Kudikaran then tracked inward to join them.

Better Never End got a beautiful tow and was going easily through the halfway mark of the 1160m contest.

Bo said, “The moment Muzi took him to the outside rail and he started running on I knew it was race over.”

Gimme A Vodka and Kudikaran were spent forces and while The Bronx Bull rallied he clearly did not have as much in the tank as Better Never End, who surged forward to win by a comfortable 0,90 lengths.

Bo will now give him a deserved rest and then aim him at the Gr 1 Gold Medallion.

However, he feels he will get better as he goes further and thinks he will get at least a mile.

Better Never Ends is out of four-time-winning Hussonet mare Endearment, whose first four foals were all winners, including five-time winner Phaka Imali (Var), five-time-winner Acacia’s Blossom (Flower Alley) and three-time-winner Agrado (Global View).

Bo landed him at the August National Two-Year-Old Sale for R360,000 on behalf of owner Dladla Family Trust (Nom: Mr Q J Manoko).

Bo said he always placed importance in the eye of the horse and he said at the Sale Better Never End’s eye was full of intelligence.

The Dladla Family Trust also own the promising Alson Ndzilana-trained Nightshine (Rafeef), who has finished second in both of his starts to date.

Bo has had an interesting working career, first managing his father’s business then working as a fireman and as he was a qualified mechanical engineer he worked in various positions in that field “just to check it out.”

However, his love lay with horses and he had held a chairmanship in the sport of rural horseracing before deciding to join the professional circuit.

He started with Tony Rivalland on March 1, 2015 and after four years with him joined a couple of other yards to gain further experience. He worked for  Nathan Kotzen for a year and then worked for Peter Muscutt for a year, before returning to Rivalland for one final year.

He then felt confident enough to start out on his own and has sure done a fine job with such limited numbers.

He has had eleven wins and 33 places and that includes getting now fewer than six wins out of the Elusive Fort gelding Eventidor, who is still competitive at the age of seven.

He hopes the Gr 2 win will help him expand to 20 to 25 horses and what is particularly exciting at present is there could soon be a father/son trainer/jockey partnership in KZN.

Soccer10 Friday 10 April 2026. ADD – INN R200 000. Estimated Pool: R 2 Million. Pool Closes at 19h00. Sport 7 and Pool 1.

Score10 Friday 10 April 2026. ADD-IN R10 000. Pool Closes at 21h00. Sport 9 and Pool 1.

Soccer4 Saturday 11 April 2026. ADD – INN R25 000. Estimated Pool: R 100 000. Pool Closes at 13h30. Sport 19 Pool 1.

Soccer10 Saturday 11 April 2026. ADD- INN R200 000. Estimated Pool: R 2 Million. Pool Closes at 15h00. Sport 16 and Pool 1.

Soccer Any 13Xtra Saturday 11 April 2026. Carryover R100 000. Estimated Pool: R400 000. Pool Closes at 13h30. Sport 13 and Pool 1.

Soccer13 GUARANTEED JACKPOT Saturday 11 April 2026. R23 Million (If only One 13 of 13 Winner). Pool Closes at 15h30. Sport 11 Pool 1.

 Score6 Saturday 11 April 2026. ADD-IN R5 000. Pool Closes at 16h00. Sport 6 and Pool 1.

Soccer6 Sunday 12 April 2026. ADD-INN R75 000. Estimated Pool: R 500 000. Pool Closes at 15h00. Sport 4 Pool 1

Soccer10 Sunday 12 April 2026. ADD- INN R200 000. Estimated Pool: R 2 Million. Pool Closes at 15h00. Sport 8 and Pool 1.

• SPLITTHEEIGHTS: 109 to 116
• ONE EYE ON VEGAS: 106 to 115
• RADIO STAR: 95 to 107

• SCARLETT HEART (third): 91 to 108
• DAISY JONES (fourth): 106 to 108

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!