The Vodacom Durban July entries were announced at the South African Champions Season launch at Greyville last Thursday and punters and pundits immediately began speculating, while fashionistas were thinking along different lines as the July theme “Leader Of The Pack” was emphasised.

Legal Eagle (Liesl King)

Legal Eagle and Abashiri are the standouts in terms of class and both have the potential to become greats. The term great is over used but true greats have been popping up regularly all over the world these days.

Smart Call, rated sixth best horse in the world after her Maine Chance Paddock Stakes and J&B Met romps, has departed the country. This leaves Legal Eagle as the top merit rated horse on 120. However, without the chance to exact revenge on Smart Call, he will have to go some to be regarded as “great”.

However, he recently added the Gr 1 HF Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut Stakes to his Gr 1 L’Ormarin’s Queen’s Plate win, proving himself the country’s best miler. He has already proved he stays the July trip, having won the SA Derby in impressive style last year. However, the downside to his July chances are his failure to win the big race last year when weighted off a merit rating of 112. On the upside he suffered interference in the straight which affected his momentum and, but for that, he could possibly have won.

In the past, great horses like Politician have failed as three-year-olds with light weights before coming back to win it with topweight the following year. Interestingly, Legal Eagle finished fifth in his three-year-old year, the same position Politician managed. In the Rising Sun Gold Challenge, Legal Eagle will attempt to emulate Politician by winning three Gr 1 weight for age miles in his four-year-old year. He will deserve a mention alongside the great milers if he does it. If he also wins either the Premier’s Champions Challenge or the July, or both, he will probably deserve the unconditional title “great”.

Abashiri (Nkosi Hlophe)

Abashiri is on the cusp of becoming the third horse to win the Triple Crown. His SA Classic win was breathtaking and possibly the best performance Turffontein had seen since Horse Chestnut cantered home by close to ten lengths in the SA Derby in 1999. Three-year-olds have been a force in the July since the merit rating system began. In previous years they appear to have battled to make it into the field, presumably due to the high race figures of the older horses. London News, for example, was the only three-year-old in the field when winning it in 1996 and so was his father Bush Telegraph when winning it in 1987.

Many of the best older horses these days are campaigning overseas, so the days of “a three-year-old cannot win with that weight” are over. Bold Silvano won it with 55,5kg in 2010, the filly Igugu won it with 55kg in 2011, Pomodoro won it with 55kg in 2012 and Legislate won it with 56kg in 2014.

As things stand, Abashiri would have to carry 56,5kg and has impressed as one who is up to such a task if taking his place. The maximum weight a three-year-old is allowed to carry, according to the conditions, is 57kg, unless he or she is the highest net merit rated horse. His or her weight in the latter case would likely have to be dragged upward, although the handicappers still have the right to handicap the race at their sole discretion. Abashiri would have to come into the race with a 125 merit rating, as things stand, to have the highest net merit rating. This is an unlikely scenario considering he is weighted to romp home in the SA Derby.

The SA Champions Season often unearths a three-year-old who arrives in KZN relatively unknown and such a horse could be Baritone. He finished a running on short-head second in the Byerley Turk over 1400m, despite giving 4kg to the winner Mambo Mime. As an immature sort who is progressing all the time, and as one who will much prefer the 1600m trip of the Gr 2 Canon Guineas as well as the 2000m trip of the Daily News 2000, he could establish himself as a top July contender in the next couple of months.

Baritone (Nkosi Hlophe)

Well handicapped older horses also have to be respected and Deo Juvente off a merit rating of 106 makes appeal because as things stand he will sneak in with the minimum weight for an older horse of 53kg and that would be his actual handicap weight anyway. He looks to have the potential to rise above that rating.

The crack three-year-old filly Silver Mountain as things stand would only be required to carry 53kg so has to be respected too.

It will be tough for connections of the best horses to avoid the lure of the July, despite its longstanding reputation as an ultra tough race which can take a lot out of a horse, because the stake now stands at R4,25 million.

The false rail will be a maximum of one metre this year to encourage horses to use the whole width of the straight, which is considerably narrower since the building of the polytrack in 2014.

The well thought out July theme, “Leader Of The Pack”, brings the suits of cards into play which is fitting. Hearts will both reflect passion and the international colour of the year, red. Diamonds are for the glitz and glamour of the July, Spades are for all the hard work which goes into organising it and Clubs are for the clubbing crowds, who flock to the event these days. “Leader” applies to the July’s standing as the greatest race in Africa.

Fashion designers will have plenty to work with and will be hard at work because this is one of the most important events on the fashion calendar and offers the opportunity for young designers to break into the big time.

By David Thiselton

Brutal Force will miss the rest of the season after recovering from a life-threatening attack of colic last week.

Joey Ramsden said: “He got the colic in Jo’burg last Monday night and his gut was trapped between the rib cage and the liver. It was serious – apparently it is one of the worst types of colic there is.

“Fortunately the vets were able to pull out the trapped gut without having to cut it and the horse returned to the yard on Saturday.

“He is looking a bit sorry for himself but otherwise he is OK. He will be out of action for four months.”

The four-year-old, beaten only a head by Gulf Storm in the Betting World Cape Flying Championship on Met day, was in Johannesburg being prepared for a tilt at Saturday week’s World Sports Betting Computaform Sprint.

By Michael Clower

Picture: Brutal Force (Liesl King)

The Joey Ramsden stable is convinced that Newlands is going places even though the Australian-bred came close to throwing the race away at Kenilworth on Saturday.

The Maiden Juvenile Plate looked all over when the 6-10 hotpot swept to the front inside the final furlong but he promptly downed tools and Donovan Dillon, hastily switching his whip from one hand to the other like a magician finding his wand is not working, had to get him going again to beat off the 55-1 supposed no-hoper Hernando’s Promise.

Donovan Dillon (Nkosi Hlophe)

Dillon said: “He is still very dumb but he has scopes of improvement” while Ramsden’s assistant Ricardo Sobotker added: “He is a big baby and he can be very coltish but he is going to be a nice horse when he goes over ground.”

The Almighty had a busy afternoon. Dillon, who crosses himself every time he is led into the winner’s box, also won the opener for Ramsden on comfortable scorer Captain Gambler while Aldo Domeyer added to Mike Bass’s memorable day by taking the 1 800m handicap on Kilrain.

Domeyer marks victory with a similar silent prayer and, just to make sure that it goes to the right place, he thrusts his index finger heavenwards. He is, incidentally, particularly taken with the aptly-named Oomph, five-length winner of Friday’s East Cape Nursery and says: “That baby is something worth following.”

Racegoers have been asking why Richard Fourie is making such a stop-start of his return to action after Hong Kong. Saturday was the first time he had raced for three weeks and he has no more rides until this weekend.

“I am enjoying life before it becomes a job again,” he explained. “I went for a fortnight’s holiday and then to see my family in Jo’burg.”

He remains determined to book his own rides and has already turned down an offer from at least one agent but he is non-commital about whether he will continue as a freelance, saying only: “I don’t know.”

His seven mounts on Saturday produced no winners – despite his employing a whole variety of tactics – but three seconds included a peach of a ride on Carrie Bow Cay who was thwarted only by Craig du Plooy conjuring unexpected reserves from the Snaith-trained Katies Jay close home.

Fourie was also unlucky in the last when he felt Fairy Maker (beaten less than half a length by MJ Byleveld’s late run on Vaughan Marshall’s Three  Blue Cranes) not striding out properly. Sure enough, the course vet found that the mare had gone lame.

The recent African Horse Sickness death is causing problems for Glen Kotzen and all his five runners were withdrawn. The actual scratching was done by senior stipe Ernie Rodrigues rather than the trainer.

Rodrigues explained: “The state vet made the actual decision. I rang the trainer but he was at the sales in Johannesburg so I took the horses out. The stable may be able to have runners this Saturday under certain circumstances.”

Storm Clipper, the 14-1 shot who beat the older horses with ease in the Quinte Plus Maiden Plate, carries the colours of Mauritius trainer Ricky Maingard and will join him in time.

Shane Humby said: “I will have to speak to Ricky to see what he wants to do but this is a smart horse. We didn’t know if he was going to be alright here because he was so naughty in the pens first time.”

Piet Steyn has found the key to Garden Tea Party who flew home almost impossibly late to mercilessly cut down long-time leader Svala in the 1 200m Fillies Maiden.

“I have always rated her but I learned that you have got to keep her covered and sit on her as long as you can,“ Steyn explained. Seemingly, though, he wasn’t prepared for Grant Behr following his instructions quite so much to the letter – “I thought ‘Jesus, when is this guy going to let her go!’”

It is easy to see why Playboy Buddy had finished second in five of her six starts. She burned up kilos of nervous energy before the 2 500m maiden despite Behr skipping the parade, taking her down with his feet out of the irons and getting off her at the start. “She lives on her nerves and takes too much out of herself,” said Dean Kannemeyer’s assistant David Lilley. Thankfully for those who made her 13-10 favourite, Behr was able to conserve enough for her to come again at the end to score by a hard-fought length.

By Michael Clower

If there was any argument that last season’s crop of three-year-old fillies was above average it was finally put to bed by star filly Inara at Turffontein yesterday. Also stuffed under the blanket was that carefully planned, Cape Town-based horses have no trouble competing on the Highveld.

Winner of the Gr1 Klavervlei Majorca Stakes in two consecutive seasons, Inara took her form to the ‘Big Smoke’ and put their best away with ease in the Gr1 L Jaffee Empress Club Stakes, second leg of the unofficial fillies and mares Gr1 WFA 1600m Triple Crown.

Trainers from the Western Cape have traditionally been reluctant to travel to the Highveld where the rarefied atmosphere, 6000m above sea level, has often been blamed for disappointing performances. But if altitude came into play yesterday it was not in evidence as Inara made some high class opposition look decidedly ordinary.

Inara (Liesl King)

The field dawdled the first fractions but if the opposition plan was to blunt Inara’s finish it was misplaced. Grant van Niekerk rode a supremely confident race pushing for home early and Inara responded like the good horse she is.

Fitting was that Mike Bass, who has had difficult health issues of late, was on track to collect the trophy.

If Inara franked the three-year-old fillies form then Carry On Alice reinforced it. Second to Alboran Sea – another of the ‘Fillies Super Crop’ – in the G1 Computaform Sprint last year, she staked her claim for another crack at the big prize at the end of the month with an emphatic victory in a Pinnacle Stakes sprint over 1000m.

Even though she had everything in her favour, the win could not have been more emphatic and S’Manga Khumalo was looking through his legs for the opposition a long way out.

The Computaform Sprint will be more competitive but Carry On Alice showed enough yesterday to suggest that she will be a tough nut to crack.

Horses from champion trainer elect Sean Tarry’s yard have been almost invincible of late but there have been a couple of hiccups along the way and it is obviously preying on his mind. “I’ve had a number of odds-on favourites beaten when they looked to have everything in their favour,’ he surmised after Carry On Alice’s win.

Anyone who understands horse racing will be aware that things can go pear-shaped in a matter of seconds – tendon, muscles whatever – so it’s best to know the facts before shouting.

Mike Azzie, much like Tarry, has a wealth of talent in his yard and Rabada was back on track in a Progress Plate. Abashiri may be the stable darling as he heads for the final leg of the triple crown but Rabada has always been rated by Azzie as a horse with lots of potential.

Anton Marcus rode a supremely confident race, tracking the pace for much of the way up the straight, and Rabada responded smartly. The colt’s lack of race fitness started to tell over the final furlong as Machismo and Prospect Strike chased hard to put him under pressure.

By Andrew Harrison

Newlands, one of Joey Ramsden’s legion of smart two-year-olds, looks good for the Place Your Bets Maiden Juvenile at Kenilworth tomorrow.

Donovan Dillon (Nkosi Hlophe)

Donovan Dillon’s mount went into punters’ notebooks after taking third against older horses after failing to go the early pace over 1 200m on debut. The extra furlong here will be much more to his liking – he is by Epsom Derby winner High Chaparral out of a mare by Fusaichi Pegasus who won the Kentucky Derby – and he has a plum draw. He opened at 12-10 with World Sports Betting yesterday. The Justin Snaith-trained Pride Rock, 22-10 second favourite and the obvious danger, is drawn in the bush.

Snaith and Ramsden also dominate the opening Fillies Maiden Juvenile but this time the draw advantage is reversed with the Milnerton-trained 12-10 favourite Captain Gambler wide. Her form looks slightly better and Dillon is one of the few Cape Town jockeys to have made a noticeable effort to emulate the Anton Marcus starting methods.

That said, Alpha Girl  has the benefit of the in-form Heavelon van der Hoven’s 2.5kg claim and, as low numbers have a huge advantage over 1 400m on this course, she is marginally preferred –and yesterday’s 8-1 is a big price.

The majority of Dean Kannemeyer’s 61 winners this season have come in Durban – indeed he is the leading trainer at Greyville at the moment – whereas only 13 of his total have been in his native Cape Town. But the handicappers reckon he should add to this with Playboy Buddy in the 2 500m maiden.

Grant Behr (Nkosi Hlophe)

Grant Behr’s mount is the highest rated horse in the race and at the weights she has a theoretical 5kg in hand. Little wonder that she opened as short as evens. True, she has been off for two months but she did run up to her handicap mark when finishing well over a mile last time. Although she has never raced beyond 2 000m, she finished second when she did try that trip. Olympic Power (5-2) and Tropical Heat (16-10), who look the main dangers, have also not been further than 2 000m.

The Quinte Plus Maiden is on form a coin-toss between the top three and French Captain gets the vote only because he looks more accustomed to this 1 000m than the other two. But watch out for Snaith two-year-old Tweak the Wind. He opened 22-10 joint favourite with French Captain.

Sean Veale, successful on Triptique in the Cape Merchants here in November, gets the call from Brett Crawford as Corne Orffer is out for a week for an interference offence on Rock On Geordies three weeks ago.

Veale’s best chance is almost certainly on 3-1 shot Baqueira in race five assuming she can cope with the drop in trip. The filly has most to fear from 14-10 favourite Emerald Gal, Kwando (5-1) and 11-2 shot Garden Tea Party who is better than her last run would suggest (she was returned not striding out).

By Michael Clower