If the Vodacom Durban July has a parallel on the world stage then it must be the Melbourne Cup. As author Les Carlyon wrote, the “Cup mocks good order because it’s a handicap. This gets rid of the preordained factor: just about any runner can win. It’s the best sporting idea anyone has ever had in this town.”

Like the Cup, the July is a cross between a horse race, a fashion parade and a folk festival. For racing people, the July is the high point of the calendar. Ask anyone intermittently involved which race they most want to win; it will always be the July.

It also has a lot to do with the fact that the public is allowed to join in for the crowd scenes.

It starts early with a fashion parade of outfits that normal people would not be seen dead in. The classier outfits are scattered among the crowd, the more daring hoping to make it onto television or the front page of the Sunday press.

Those in for the party and corporate invitees, mostly inhabit the infield tent town where they may or may not see a horse in the flesh for the entire day.

Picnic sites start out jealously guarded, each with their own space, but by the time the sun sets as the day races into the dark, the boundaries are blurred and the free-for-alls begin, often resulting in a few pugilistic contests with security playing referee.

Those that inhabit the grandstand are there for the horses. Often accosting trainers and jockeys for tips, they revel in the once-a-year opportunity of viewing many of the county’s best horses in the flesh and hopefully cashing in on inflated betting pools with their ‘inside information’.

On your way home, the trek to your car in the infield parking is an experience in itself. Booming music, as one marquee DJ tries to drown out his neighbour, is deafening as you step over bottles, broken glass and bodies at the same time sidestepping revellers way over the limit of the ‘blaas orkes’ awaiting them outside should they dare get behind the wheel. The words of Hunter S Thompson in his classic piece, ‘The Kentucky Derby is decadent and depraved’, coming to mind.

And the racing die-hards – they mostly hate July day.

By Andrew Harrison

The Andrews family combined forces with Lucinda Woodruff to bring off the biggest Winter Derby shock this century with Dharma at Kenilworth on Saturday.

The 50-1 Royal Air Force gelding was the rank outsider of the 11-strong field while owners Terry and Annabel Andrews bred both the horse and the jockey who greeted his parents with high fives.

“I was always travelling well,” Anthony reported. “In the straight I wasn’t worried about my horse – it was just a matter of how much those in front of me had left.”

Not enough was the answer and Geoff Woodruff’s daughter added: “This is my first feature win in Cape Town. Dharma had been running on at the end over 1 800m but I had a question mark about the 2 400m. Now it looks like the further the better.”

The jury is still out on whether Helen’s Ideal stays as far as the 2 200m of the Winter Oaks. Donovan Dillon had no doubt after coming in a well-beaten fifth on the 2-1 favourite – “In the straight she gave it to me until the 200m mark and then she was completely empty. It wasn’t the ground, she just doesn’t stay.”

But the NHA vet put a very different complexion on things, reporting to the stipes that the filly was lame on her left hind and, understandably perhaps, was abnormally fatigued. “I would have said that the distance was too far for her but equally it could have been the lameness,” said trainer Paul Reeves. “There will be another day for her although it would have been nice to make history (as the first to win the fillies’ winter series).”

The race was won by Duchess of Bourbon well handled by Richard Fourie who was completing a treble and who earlier on Alsflamingbeauty reached 100 Cape Town winners for the season. Less satisfactory was the seven-day suspension (July 7-13) he received for failing to keep straight on runner-up Nexus in the Winter Derby.

This was also the final leg of a Snaith Racing treble and Jono said: “The Winter Oaks was always our goal for Duchess Of Bourbon and I think she will get better and better. The Paddock Stakes might be a bit short for her but I expect she will have a go at it.”

Candice Bass-Robinson is optimistic that Langerman winner Snow Report will make a Guineas horse and said: “He is a bit headstrong and mentally he needs to settle, but hopefully that will come with time and racing.”

Runner-up Silver Operator only went under a by a short head and would have won in another two strides. He looks just as good a prospect and M.J. Byleveld reported: “I thought he was going to get up but he was a bit green – he had only had one run before – and the ground was holding.”

Glen Kotzen has Fillies Guineas ambitions for the Morne Winnaar-ridden Third Runway, his second successive Irridescence winner, saying: “She had only had one gallop, she is still growing and I didn’t think she would be suited by the sticky ground.”

Greg Cheyne, booked by Joey Ramsden for Fresnaye in the big one on Saturday, donned Gaynor Rupert’s colours to win the Ladies Mile on Platinum Class and said: “I had three rides in these colours today and I need to get comfortable in them as I’ve got a big job to do this week!”

By Michael Clower

The injury to the unbeaten Captain Of Stealth – most people’s idea of the best two-year-old in Cape Town – has proved to be more serious than first thought and Vaughan Marshall, having received the scan results, reported on Saturday: “He will be out for ten months.”

The Captain Al colt wrapped himself below the joint and just above the coronet in a freak accident. Marshall and stable jockey M.J. Byleveld have long since learned the hard way of the painful vicissitudes that somehow seem to go hand-in-hand with racehorses but the extent of the setback is a cruel blow to owners Pat Freestone and John Habib who had been dreaming of Guineas glory.

Magnificent Seven, scratched from the final field for Saturday’s Vodacom Durban July last Wednesday, is out for the season.

Jono Snaith said: “He strained a tendon on the morning before the gallops. It’s not bad but the vets were of the opinion that if he went on grass he could do damage. It is disappointing but we didn’t want to take a chance. We will put him away for the Cape season when he will go for the same sort of races that he did this time including the New Turf Carriers Stayers on Sun Met day that he won.”

The Kenilworth stipes have finally completed their inquiry into the riding of Kingston Rock, fourth in the 1 000m maiden at Kenilworth on May 18. Corne Orffer, who pleaded guilty to failing to ride out his mount to the end of the race, has been suspended for a fortnight.

By Michael Clower

Totalisator betting for the 12 races being run at the 2019 Vodacom Durban July race meeting on Saturday, 6 July opens at all Tabgold outlets – and on all Tabgold online platforms – tomorrow, Monday 1 July,  and racing fans have many huge exotic pools to look forward to on the big day.

The Pick 6, which starts with Race 4, kicks off with a carry-over of R5-million and the pool is expected to reach a mammoth R15-million before the 1^st Leg jumps at 13:35 on Saturday. Finding Pick 6 bankers in a very competitive environment is not easy but the Justin Snaith trained pair of Strathdon (Leg 1) and last season’s horse of the year Oh Susanna in the final leg, will be popular options.

The Quartet Pool on the Vodacom Durban July, Race 7 on the programme due off at 16:20, is expected to reach R16-million. The Quartet requires punters to pick the first four runners past the post and in the Vodacom Durban July most will be relying on the three leading contenders Do It Again, Rainbow Bridge and ruling favourite Hawwaam to help solve the puzzle. Over the years many an outsider has boosted the pay-out by finding its way into the Quartet and notable runners in this category include Twist of Fate, Doublemint, Eyes Wide Open and last year’s runner-up Made to Conquer. But, the Pick 6 and main race Quartet apart, there are many different bet types available – catering for both the seasoned punter and the “once-a-year” racegoer. Gold Circle is expecting turnover for the day to top the R60-million mark as “July Fever” kicks into top gear over the final week.

Prolific owner Hugo Hattingh is the type of racing personality this country needs more of as he loves horses and has a desire to grow the sport. Few would begrudge him and his family a win with the Glen Kotzen-trained Eyes Wide Open in the Vodacom Durban July on Saturday.

Hugo regards Eyes Wide Open as the best horse he has ever owned, better even than the like of Light The Lights and Gold Standard, although he admits to possibly being a touch biased.

The family race under the name Chrigor Stud and the Kotzen-trained Gold Standard was their first July runner last year.

Hugo said, “He also drew on the outside, but Eyes is suited to Greyville and Gold was probably not.”

Eyes Wide Open has run five times on the Greyville turf, including a win in the Grade 1 Premier’s Champion Stakes over 1600m as a two-year-old, a third in the Grade 1 Champions Cup as a three-year-old last year, and this season he has won the Grade 2 WSB 1900 and finished second in the Grade 3 Cup Trial. 

Kotzen was philosophical after he drew wide in barrier 18 and said at least he would be able to stay out of trouble, while there also looked to be a lot of pace around him.    

The Dynasty colt will sport the most colourful silks in the July.

Hattingh used to race under the name Triple H Trust, whose colours were royal blue with a yellow band and red sleeves and cap.

These three colours were the company colours of a business he owned called Anchorpharm.

Later when forming a set of silks for his wife Suzanne he used the same three colours but because of her love of diamonds the body is now alternate blue and yellow diamonds, the sleeves and cap are red and there is a blue diamond on the cap.

These are now the colours of Chrigor Stud. 

Hugo formed the name of the stud operation during a flight overseas by combining the names of his daughter Christil and son Gordon.

Hugo grew up on a farm in the Hartebeespoort area and hence his love of horses. His first experience of horseracing was as a jockey in bush meetings, where they raced on dirt tracks. That was in the 1960s and he said, “Very pleasant … those were the days!”

When he became too heavy he switched to gymkhana events and later took part in dressage.

He ventured into thoroughbred racehorse ownership in the late 1980s and said, “The breeding part to me has always been attractive, the bloodlines, the stallions and the broodmares and that’s also why we’ve registered Chrigor Stud now. I think we have more fillies and mares now than colts and geldings. At one stage Glen said we should call it Chrigor stallions but I don’t think that’s the drive going forward. At the end of the day it’s all about passion. We are trying to get the horseracing industry to grow and this is why I have my children very excited and involved.”

Christil is 27-years-old and Gordon 25. The enthusiasm of young racegoers like themselves has a knock on effect which will be vital for the future of the sport.

Suzanne has also become an avid horseracing fan.

Hugo and Suzanne live in Pretoria but Gordon lives in the Cape and that’s where the family keeps their horses.

He said, “I believe the Cape develops stronger horses through the South-Easter wind (the Cape Doctor), which cleans the air. The KZN season is also very close to our hearts. The pinnacle, as I see it, is the Cape and KZN seasons combined. I have the odd horse in Jo’burg with our first trainer Alec Laird, but obviously we have come a long way with Glen. Funnily enough Glen won the July ten years ago with Big City Life in 2009 and we met that year at a pre-J&B Met function. His Woodhill Racing Estate farm is a very relaxed environment and with me growing up on a farm the penny dropped.”

As an indication of the Hattingh family’s love of horses they departed the game for about five years due to the trauma they experienced when one of their best horses The Eiger Sanction broke a leg a week before the Gold Cup in 2004.

However, they have had many highs since their comeback. 

He continued “To win a big race is the pinnacle but a big motivation behind our operation is to breed a Group 1 winner. I think that is even more of a challenge.”

Gold Standard, who stands at Drakenstein Stud, became the Hattingh’s first stallion. Chrigor Stud has a ten percent share in him,

He added, “Obviously we would like Eyes to go to stud, but we are going to race him another year because he’s come so well.”

Hugo was on a hunting trip when Eyes Wide Open won the WSB 1900 and watching on TV recalls saying to his colleagues, “This is the first time in a very long time I have seen him go down so well.”

Eyes Wide Open is a big horse who takes a lot of racing, so will be at his peak on Saturday having had one more run in the Cup Trial and then rounding off his preparation with a fine July gallop last Thursday.

The former Cape Derby winner will be attempting to add a third Grade 1 to his CV and a July win will obviously increase his stud value.

He has a realistic chance under top jockey Warren Kennedy and if he does pull it off there are sure to be many joyous family embraces in the winner’s enclosure. 

By David Thiselton