A third win for Do It Again in the Vodacom Durban July this year will make history. A second consecutive win for Belgarion will place him in the company of only five other horses to achieve that. More records this year? #VDJ2021

David Thiselton

Eric Sands was unaware the Vodacom Durban July final field announcement and draw ceremony was being televised live yesterday and was surprised to learn, while driving back home from town in Cape Town, that his stalwart Rainbow Bridge had drawn in pole position, one lower than his draw of two last year. He said, “It didn’t pan out well for us last year but I would rather be drawn in one than 18. We will be employing different tactics, he has a rider aboard who has a lot of confidence and lastly he will be very well on the day.” The gaps between Rainbow Bridge’s three SA Champions Season programmed races, the Grade 2 IOS Drill Hall Stakes, the Grade 1 Hollywoodbets Gold Challenge and the Vodacom Durban July, has been an unusual six weeks and three weeks this season as opposed to a normal five weeks and four weeks. Therefore, Sands left a little bit of condition on him for the Gold Challenge, where he recorded his third win in succession. He said, “I left a little bit more condition on him than normal in case he ran badly in the Gold Challenge, because I would then have needed something to work with to get him ready for the July. It was not a lot more condition than normal, I would say it was just an extra 4kg or 5kg.”   Rainbow Bridge went handy last year, tracking his stable companion Golden Ducat, and in fact covered the first 2000m of the race in a faster time than the Hollywoodbets Greyville 2000m course record set by London News in the 1996 Daily News 2000, so he went palpably too fast. Sands took responsibility for the tactical error and said afterwards,  “I outwitted myself a little bit really…” He went on to explain he had anticipated the chief Snaith trio of Belgarion, Do It Again and Bunker Hunt coming across from their wide draws and believed he would thus be trapped on the rail. Consequently, he had asked the jockeys to move off the rail in the first 400m. Luke Ferraris has reverted to the hold up tactics Rainbow Bridge was known for in the early days of his career and this has brought the best out of the star Ideal World gelding. At the age of six he has never been in better form and is the front-runner for the Equus Horse Of The Year Award. Rainbow Bridge’s pole position July draw might pan out well this year as the known front-runners Shah Akbar and Crown Towers are drawn low in three and five respectively which means Ferraris can possibly afford to sit still from the off and be in a potentially nice position for free.

David Thiselton

Piere Strydom, sidelined with a semi-detached retina, will not be back in time to fulfil one of his remaining ambitions in a star-studded career, i.e to ride in the Vodacom Durban July one last time and he is also eleven short of his ultimate target of 5500 winners.   He said, “I have shelved my plans to retire at the end of this season because I had wanted to travel around the country riding and also wanted to ride in one more July.” Strydom will thus be back to ride in next year’s Vodacom Durban July where he will be bidding to join Anton Marcus on a record five winners of the country’s biggest race. He will also enjoy himself travelling around the country riding and whittling down the eleven more winners he needs to reach his 5500 goal. Strydom’s first July winner was on the Alec Laird-trained London News in 1996 and he followed with wins on the the Mike Bass-trained Trademark in 2001, the Sean Tarry-trained Pomodoro in 2012 and the Joey Ramsden-trained The Conglomerate in 2016.
Trademark was well dawn in two but all of the others were widely drawn. London News was drawn 14 and led from pillar to post and both Pomodoro and The Conglomerate were drawn 20 out of 20. On both of the latter occasions Strydom managed to get his mounts into handy positions.  His ride on The Conglomerate will always be viewed as one of the great rides in the history of the big race as he managed to slot him into a one wide and two back position from that wide draw and then stole a march on the main protagonists at the top of the straight. His ride on London News was equally great as he took him into the lead going around the Drill Hall and skipped clear coming off the false rail, timing it to perfection, as the challengers from all sides just failed to catch him. Strydom has taken a few knocks in his time in the saddle which might have contributed to his current eye condition.  He is currently still experiencing the symptoms of the retinal tear, which includes lightning-like flashes in the corner of his eye. The retina has to be rested until the tear has settled and repaired and the length of time it takes varies from person to person. 

David Thiselton

All the talk in the build up to Vodacom Durban July has centred around three horses, Got The Greenlight, Linebacker and Rainbow Bridge, and they are also at the top of the betting boards and this is being seen as a positive for record-seeking trainer Justin Snaith. Snaith was upbeat at the Hollywoodbets Greyville meeting on Monday and said, “My horses are peaking at the right time.” Snaith will be attempting to win the VDJ for a sixth time and will be bidding to equal the 108 year old record of trainer-owner Fred Murray by winning the big race for the fourth time in succession. The final field was announced yesterday and Snaith is represented by four runners and one reserve. His former Equus Horse Of The Year Do It Again will be attempting the become the first horse to win the July three times and drew 16, having won it from draw 15 in 2018 and from draw 8 in 2019 before finishing third from the widest draw of 18 last year.  Last year’s winner Belgarion drew eleven as opposed to 17 last year. Snaith would have been hoping for a low draw for his front-running type Crown Towers and he duly drew five.  His Grade 2 Peninsula Handicap winner Nexus drew 12.     His reserve runner is Silver Host who will likely go for the Grade 3 Gold Vase over 3000m if there is not a scratching that allows him into the big one.  

Andrew Harrison

Justin Snaith is going all out to add to his Vodacom Durban July winning tally with four entries among the 18 runners carded to face starter Solly Ngcobo at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Saturday, July 3.

Snaith goes into next Saturday’s race off a hat-trick of wins, having saddled Belgarion to win last year and prior to that Do It Again to back-to-back victories.

Both horses are in the line-up again come next Saturday and will spear-head Snaith’s fifth winning bid in Africa’s greatest horse race, chasing the seven successes of the legendary Syd Laird and the six of Terrance Millard.

S’Manga Khumalo, successful on Heavy Metal for Sean Tarry in 2013, will partner last year’s winner Belgarion with stable rider Richard Fourie, who is contracted to ride for leading owner Nick Jonsson, aboard Do It Again who will be out to make history as the only horse to have won the race three times. Both have drawn wide at 11 and 16 respectively.

Other Snaith runners are supplementary entry Nexus with Craig Zackey booked, and Crown Towers who will see Louis Mxothwa having his first ride in the big race.

Top weight Rainbow Bridge has it all to do, giving lumps of weight to all and it may well prove to be a bridge too far at his third attempt. However, the gelding has struck up a good rapport with rider Luke Ferraris and a change of running tactics has seen him unbeaten in his last three, the Gr1 Cape Met, the Gr3 Drill Hall Stakes and the Gr1 Hollywoodbets Gold Challenge. Weight will be an issue but Ferraris will need to avoid traffic in a notoriously rough race from his pole position draw but he could still pull it off for owner Mike Rattray who has been trying to win the race for over four decades.

Muzi Yeni will have been mightily relieved to see Gr1 Woolavington 2000 and Triple Tiara champion War Of Athena defect to the Gr1 Jonsson Workwear Garden Province Stakes otherwise he would have had to choose between the filly and current ante-post favourite Got The Greenlight.

Joey Soma has had the Vodacom Durban July in his sights since Got The Greenlight’s runner-up to Belgarion last year and the colt does appear to have had the ideal preparation and looks well in at the weights. He has drawn a little wide at 14 so should be able to avoid any early scrimmaging for position.

Three-year-olds have an outstanding record in this race in recent years and this season’s crop has proved to be outstanding. In their favour is that all will carry the minimum weight for their age group.

Vaughan Marshall launches a two-pronged assault with Linebacker and Rascallion who drew alongside each other at 7 and 6 respectively.

 Linebacker has reeled off three big races in succession, the Gr1 Jonsson Workwear Cape Derby, the Gr2 WSB Guineas and the Gr1 Daily News 2000 and goes into the contest on the back of an ideal preparation that harks back to one of the best winners of this race, Illustrador, who followed a similar path into the race.

Rascallion finished runner-up to Linebacker in both the Daily News 2000 and the Jonsson Workwear Cape Derby with little more than a length between the stable companions at the line.

Kommetdieding has had to play second fiddle to Linebacker in both the WSB Guineas and the Daily News 2000 and the casualty has been regular jockey Sihle Cele who has been replaced by Gavin Lerena. Kommetdieding was a short-priced favourite for the Jonsson Workwear Cape Derby before side-lined by injury. He comfortably beat Rascallion in the Gr3 Politician Stakes and although beaten in both recent outings, he is far from a spent force. He pulled the widest gate at 18 but wide draws have been more to the fore in recent running’s with Golden Ducat, fourth last year, jumping from gate 18.

Gareth van Zyl saddles the progressive filly She’s A Keeper who may still not have shown her full potential. She was a smart winner of the WSB 1900 and she carries bottom weight from a mid-field draw of 10. This is a major step up in class but her record speaks for itself and off a light weight she is far from a hopeful entry.

Running Brave is a class mare but has been off her game in recent outings which is a concern.

Johnny Hero was supplemented after winning the Gr3 Jubilee Handicap where he carried bottom weight of 52kg. However, trainer Tyrone Zackey almost pulled off a major upset with Samanjemanje in 2012 so Jonny Hero is not one to write of lightly.

Sean Tarry saddled back-to-back wins with Heavy Metal and Pomodoro and sends out two runners in Cirillo and Shah Akbar.

Cirillo is ever game but has not won beyond 1400m although finishing third behind Got The Greenlight in the Gr1 Champion’s Challenge over 2000m on the tough Turffontein track.

Shah Akbar finished fourth to Linebacker in the Daily News 2000 with both Rascallion and Kommetdieding ahead of him but he could still prove competitive from a stable that has a knack of getting horses to peak on the day.