The first seven places, Yorker, Hill Fifty Four, Louis The King, Legislate, Capetown Noir, Athina and Beach Beauty, have been filled by horses whose recent Gr1 wins make them virtual automatic qualifiers.

Tellina was a controversial omission last year, but looks secure this year in eighth place thanks to his consistent big race performances, as he has finished in the top three in three Highveld Gr 1s this season and also won a Gr 3 event. He has earned his merit rating of 110.

Pomodoro, a former SA Derby and VDJ winner, finished third in the Gr 1 President’s Champions Challenge, signalling that he retains his ability after returning from a life threatening illness, and he is in ninth spot.

Last year’s SA Derby winner Wylie Hall was just behind Pomodoro in the Champions Challenge, but gave him 2,5kg in that race, so deserves his tenth position.

Punta Arenas ran a fantastic third in the J&B Met and Jet Explorer was as impressive when an unlucky third in the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate. They are the next two.

As You Like finished in the top three in all three legs of the Triple Crown, so deserves his spot.

Whiteline Fever was fourth in the Met, won the Gr 2 Hawaii Stakes an is the proverbial hard knocker. The final position in the top 16 was taken by Gr 1 Cape Guineas winner In The Fast Lane.

Gr 2 Colorado King Stakes winner Halve The Deficit, who is seventeenth on the log, is coming into his own and perhaps gives Sean Tarry and Chris van Niekerk their best chance of landing the July for the third year in succession.

Espumanti proved she can stay further than a mile last time out when just touched off by Cherry On The Top in the Gr 2 Gerald Rosenberg over 2000m at Turffontein.

Royal Zulu Warrior put in the best performance of all at the weights in the Sansui Summer Cup, so also deserves to be in the top 20. July and Queen’s Plate fourth-placed No Worries takes the final position in the top 20 and if he can be held up with the blinkers on in the Betting World 1900, tactics that suit him best, he could enhance his chances of making the final field.

The next ten as well as the current July joint third favourite Futura will have to feature prominently in the traditional qualifying races to make it into the race. The latter faces a problem being merit rated only 85 as he might not even make the cut for races like the Betting World 1900, although the latter will have a consolation race worth R150,000 attached to it if there are too many entries, which will at least give him a run.

Furthermore, the merit ratings are not the only factor that are taken into account when the powers that be choose the final fields for the big qualifying races and an exciting horse like him might get in before a higher rated one.[/expand]

Log as at May 6, 2014

# Horse Trainer MR
1 YORKER Geoff Woodruff 118
2 HILL FIFTY FOUR Vaughan Marshall 112
3 LOUIS THE KING Geoff Woodruff 109
4 LEGISLATE Justin Snaith 109
5 CAPETOWN NOIR Dean Kannemeyer 112
6 ATHINA Joe Soma 101
7 BEACH BEAUTY Dennis Drier 112
8 TELLINA Geoff Woodruff 110
9 POMODORO Sean Tarry 109
10 WYLIE HALL Weiho Marwing 109
11 PUNTA ARENAS Stan Elley 108
12 JET EXPLORER Justin Snaith 109
13 AS YOU LIKE Alec Laird 100
14 CAPTAIN AMERICA Brett Crawford 106
15 WHITELINE FEVER Sean Tarry 110
16 IN THE FAST LANE Justin Snaith 105

17 HALVE THE DEFICIT Sean Tarry 104
18 ROYAL ZULU WARRIOR Kumaran Naidoo 110
19 ESPUMANTI Mike de Kock 105
20 NO WORRIES Gavin van Zyl 107

NEXT 10 IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER
ASTRO NEWS Charles Laird 109
BEZANOVA Alec Laird 102
CAGIVA Sean Tarry 103
HOT TICKET Dean Kannemeyer 108
ICE MACHINE Dean Kannemeyer 108
JET BELLE Glen Kotzen 103
RIO CARNIVAL Charles Laird 112
RUN FOR IT Justin Snaith 109
SHOGUNNAR Gavin van Zyl 104
TRIBAL DANCE Vaughan Marshall 107

Important Dates:
– Tuesday, 13 May 2014: First Supplementary Entries
– Tuesday, 13 May 2014: First Declarations
– Monday, 2 June 2014: Second Declarations
– Monday, 9 June 2014: Final Supplementary Entries
– Tuesday, 10 June 2014: Weights Published
– Monday, 23 June 2014: Declarations close
– Tuesday, 24 June 2014: Final Field and Barrier Draw
– Thursday, 26 June 2014: Gallops at Greyville

Betting: 5-1 Legislate, Louis The King, 9-1 Yorker, 10-1 Beach Beauty, Futura, 16-1 Captain America, 20-1 As You Like, Capetown Noir, Hill Fifty Four, 25-1 Rio Carnival, Tellina, 33-1 Jet Explorer, King Of Pain, Pomodoro, Readytogorightnow, Run For It, Whistle Stop, Whiteline Fever, 40-1 Cagiva, Punta Arenas, 50-1 Athina, Halve The Deficit, Hot Ticket, Jet Belle, Rake`s Chestnut, Silvano`s Jet, Wylie Hall, 66-1 upwards others [/expand]

The other big mover with Betting World was Beach Beauty who was cut from 20-1 to 12-1 as a result of her success in the Independent On Saturday Drill Hall Stakes. Punta Arenas, beaten just under four lengths into fifth, was shortened from 66-1 to 40-1 but Capetown Noir was eased from 16-1 to 20-1 after managing only third.

Captain America was also on the drift – from 9-1 to 16-1 – after failing to find much at the end of the KRA Guineas in which he was third.

Betting World ante-post Vodacom Durban July prices:
9-2 Legislate, Louis The King,
8-1 Futura, Yorker,
12-1 Beach Beauty,
16-1 Captain America,
20-1 As You Like, Capetown Noir, Rio Carnival,
25-1 Hill Fifty Four, Tellina,
33-1 and upwards others[/expand]

The Dennis Drier-trained evergreen six-year-old mare retained her crown in the Gr 2 Drill Hall Stakes over 1 400m on Saturday, overcoming yet another wide draw with her early speed, before coasting to a 2,5 length victory over a classy field under a hands and heels ride by Sean Cormack.

The diminutive bay by Dynasty looked a little awkward going down to the start but it had nothing to do with her stride and everything to do with her saddle cloth, which made her look like a school kid donning a uniform a couple of sizes too big. Her tiny stature is part of her appeal and another alluring asset is her gentle nature.

The well documented fairytale story behind the Shanks Syndicate that race her adds to the package.

The connections revealed that, while Beach Beauty was nervous before her two Gr 1 wins in Cape Town over the summer, she was as calm as a lamb in the saddling enclosure on Saturday. It was if she knew she was at home on her favourite course, Greyville.

However, that does not mean she is any less suited to other courses. She possesses tremendous gatespeed and a fantastic turn of foot, vital assets for tight tracks, while her ability to both switch off in the running and sustain a finish make her just as effective on galloping tracks.

There was a period during her unlucky Cape summer of the 2011/12 season where she showed a tendency to fight for her head, especially in the races run at a farcical pace. However, the sublime hands of jockey Sean Cormack, who began his prolific partnership with her in the latter part of that season, have rendered that hiccup a distant memory.

Beach Beauty has now won 16 times in 29 starts, including four Gr 1s, six Gr 2s and one Gr 3.

She might not have reached a peak as high as Empress Club, who could well be the best filly the country has seen, but for durability at the highest level there is likely no South African female that has ever matched her. Even at the age of six, her zest and will to win show no sign of wane.

Furthermore, Empress Club was an Argentinian-bred, while Beach Beauty was bred near Volksrust by the late Trevor Armitage.

Beach Beauty will probably not even be considered the best of her crop as Igugu won the Triple Tiara before winning both the Vodacom Durban July and the J&B Met. However, Igugu was an Australian-bred and her Met victory as a four-year-old was her last win, although the Northern Hemisphere environment was partly responsible for that as it played havoc with her cycles.

Flush Of Dawn in the 1920s ended her career as the highest stake earner in the country’s history and no filly matched her popularity until the arrival of Kings Pact in the 1950s.

Kings Pact rattled off a then record nine successive wins in 1953, including beating the great Mowgli as a two-year-old in the Newbury Stakes over 1 200m. She also became only the second ever two-year-old to win the Clairwood Winter Handicap and as a young three-year-old won the Champions Stakes over 2 000m at Greyville by 9,75 lengths in record time. King’s Pact was named Horse Of The Year in her two-year-old year. Co-incidentally her career ended with the same record as Beach Beauty’s current one, 16 wins in 29 races.

Beach Beauty was the KZN Horse Of The Year last year, but looks likely to retire without an Equus Horse Of The Year title due to Louis The King’s recent Triple Crown success.

Terrence Millard trained two fillies that won ARCSA Horse Of The Year titles, Tecla Bluff and Enchanted Garden. He also trained the like of July winner Devon Air as well as Olympic Duel. However, none of his best fillies ever matched Beach Beauty’s durability.

The Mike de Kock-trained great, the Zimbabwean-bred Ipi Tombe, was the Dubai Horse Of The Year in 2003, but had to be retired as an early five-year-old due to injury.
Of the top females in recent times, only the Mike Bass-trained River Jetez, who won the J&B Met as a six-year-old and raced overseas until the age of nine, can compete with Beach Beauty’s longevity.

She would likely have won more than one Gr 1 had her career not coincided with her great full-brother Pocket Power and another stablemate, the high class filly Sun Classique. Incidentally Bass once called the early 1980’s sprint-miler filly Sweet Chestnut the best horse he had ever trained, although Pocket Power has probably usurped her.

Other great females in SA history include Renounce, Scarlet Lady, Wainui, Star Effort, Hoeberg, Beach Beauty’s stablemate Val De Ra, Mother Russia, and many more, including, perhaps, the current pair Cherry On The Top and Via Africa.

There is little doubt that Beach Beauty deserves her place among them and if she can beat the boys in her next start in the weight for age Rising Sun Gold Challenge over 1 600m, her place will be well and truly cemented.[/expand]

Richard Fourie was high in his praise of the Dynasty colt Legislate, whom he called one of the best horses he had ever sat on. Third-placed Captain America clearly needed the run and the return match in the Gr 1 Daily News 2000, which is likely to include Triple Crown hero Louis The King, is going to be some race.

However, Legislate has beaten Captain America over that trip before, when winning the Gr 1 Investec Cape Derby.

Legislate has an interesting story behind him. After being secured at the National Yearling Sales for a mere R90 000 on behalf of Dennis and Gael Evans of Newbury Racing, Jonathon Snaith phoned breeder Vaughan Koster of Cheveley Stud to ask him whether there was something wrong with the horse, as they had been expecting to fork out a lot more for one of the lots they had earmarked as one of the best of the sale.

Drakenstein Stud and Jack Mitchell now also have a share in Legislate.

Maybe Yes, by Tiger Ridge, showed an explosive turn of foot in the KRA Fillies Guineas and won easily. She has finally put the problems that kept her out of the Cape summer classics and the recent Umzimkhulu Stakes behind her.

In The Fast Lane, who finished third, appeared to need the run and the possible return match in the Woolavington 2000 will be interesting. KRA Fillies Guineas runner up Not Sulking as well as the like of dual Gr 1 winner Along Came Polly, SA Fillies Classic winner Athina and SA Oaks winner and runner-up, Ash Cloud and Mohave Princess, could be involved.

Maybe Yes was bred by Mary Slack’s Wilgerbosdrift Stud and her daughter Jessica owns her in partnership with Gary Grant Chris Haynes and Mr and Mrs F Ladeira.[/expand]