David Thiselton

The national trainers championship is particularly intriguing this season, because it is closer than it was last season at this stage and the R10 million Hollywoodbets Durban July also has the potential to bring about a dramatic change in the standings in just one race.

Last season Justin Snaith was well over R7 million clear of his chief rival for the title every season, Sean Tarry, at this same stage, while another perennial contender, Mike de Kock, was R8 million behind and the championship-winning Peter yard were more than R6 million behind.

This season Snaith is only about R2.8 million clear of both Peter and Tarry and the Mike and Mathew De Kock yard are less than R100,000 behind the latter pair.

Snaith has an even money chance, with Hollywoodbets, of adding R593,750 to his tally with Double Grand Slam in the Gr 1 R1 million Cartier Paddock Stakes on Saturday at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth.

Tony Peter has a 25/20 chance of adding R890,625 in the Gr 1 World Pool Cape Flying Championship with the highest rated horse in the land,  Buffalo Storm Cody.

The De Kocks have a 2/1 chance of adding a big R1,781,250 to their tally with Jan Van Goyen in the Gr 1 L’Ormarins King’s Plate (LKP).

Of course there can be upsets and the De Kocks also have the 10/1 chance Dave The King in the LKP, while the Snaiths have a strong hand with 5/1 chance Eight On Eighteen and 6/1 shot See It Again as well as 10/1 chance Sail The Seas and 33/1 chance Legal Counsel.

Sean Tarry has the 33/1 Cosmic Speed in the LKP and he could be fair value as he is a Gr 1 weight for age winner over a mile and has champion jockey Gavin Lerena up. His form in the Gr 2 WSB Guineas and Gr 1 wfa Hollywoodbets Gold Challenge over this 1600m trip also puts him close to Sail The Seas, Eight On Eighteen and See It Again. Cosmic Speed was a 2,95 length tenth in the Gr 2 Ridgemont Green Point Stakes but that was his second run after a five-and-a-half month layoff and his first run in Cape Town, so he was entitled to need it.

In the Cape Flying Tarry has the 25/1 and 67/1 outsiders Lucky Lad and Quantum Theory.

Snaith has the 20/1 shot Snow Pilot, while the De Kocks have the exciting three-year-old Constellation, who is rated a 25/2 chance.

In the Paddock Stakes Snaith also has the 25/2 shot Wish List and the 33/1 chance Little Suzie.

The Gr 1 wfa WSB Met carries a R5 million stake and Snaith could get a massive boost towards retaining his championship in that race.

He has the defending champion Eight On Eighteen, who will be hard to beat.

Eight On Eighteen will have some competition from a plethora of stablemates i.e See It Again, Sail The Seas, Regulation, Happy Verse and Native Ruler.

Dean Kannemeyer will have a strong hand in the Met with the Hollywoodbets Durban July winner The Real Prince and his talented full-brother Gimmie Rules.  Kannemeyer does not have the numbers to be a fancied championship contender, but he does have a lot of quality and as he has the potential to do the  Met/July double he has to be an outsider to take note of.

Tarry’s Met challenge relies on Legend Of Arthur, who has been disappointing since his SA Derby win, and Cosmic Speed, who might be stretched by the 2000m trip, although this Querari gelding’s dam is by Silvano, which makes it interesting.

The De Kock’s Dave The King will be stretched by the Met trip.

Tarry’s perennial opportunity to plunder comes in the Highveld feature season and the De Kocks could also rake in a lot of stakes money there.

Tarry has an exciting unbeaten three-year-old in the Vercingetorix colt Grand Empire and he has plenty of hard knockers for the Highveld season.

Tarry is famously prosperous at the Hollywoodbets Scottsville Festival Of Speed meeting and his promising two-year-old colt Turn It Up, a half-brother to Gr 1 Gold Medallion winner Proceed, is an obvious candidate, as is the like of Mia Moo, who will be out to defend her SA Fillies Sprint crown, while stablemate One Fine Winter will be one of Mia Moo’s chief dangers. The like of Lucky Lad will be a Gr 2 Golden Horse Sprint contender and Tarry is likely to have contenders for the top two-year-old fillies race, the Allan Robertson.

Jan van Goyen is not an entry for the WSB Met and the De Kocks might be eyeing the Highveld Triple Crown events with him.

They have plenty of promising three-year-olds like Miami Mountain, One Eye On Vegas, Constellation, Splittheeights, Trombolines and fillies like Drumnadrochit.

Tony Peter could also have a good Highveld season with his established stars being joined by the like of exciting two-year-old Heath House.

However, the July is going to be the big one and it looks like the Snaith yard will hold the aces for that race with a host of contenders like Eight on Eighteen, Native Ruler, See It Again, Regulation, Okovango, Happy Verse, Legal Counsel, Magic Verse, Randolph Hearst etc.

The Snaith yard have the numbers and the all round strength in all divisions and crucially they are likely to have to have the strongest hand in the July.

Hollywoodbets have them at 4/10 to defend their title and that looks to be a fair price for those brave enough to take it.

Sean Tarry and the De Kocks are at 6/1 and the Peter yard is at 8/1 with James Crawford and Dean Kannemeyer next best on 25/1 respectively.