The official July Gallops at Greyville in Durban today were once again a successful lead-up to the R3.5-million Vodacom Durban July in just over a week’s time and the one thing that stood out was that all 17 of the horses that galloped looked to be in top racing trim.

A good crowd gathered at the central Durban venue for the early morning exercise looking comforted in the chilly morning area by the hot coffee and sticky buns and enjoyed watching the magnificent animals put through their paces.

Very little was gleaned from the morning’s events as few of the big-race candidates were asked to do more than a moderate gallop and a few hardly did more than a canter. But there were some that were allowed to step up the pace and the quickest of them was the big-race second reserve Mac De Mago from the Wieho Marwing stable. The three-year-old colt, that finished second to The Conglomerate in the KRA Guineas, was allowed to really stretch his legs and posted the fastest time from both the 800m and 400m marks, stopping the clock for the final distance in 21.34 secs.

As presenter Kevin Shea remarked “I’d like to see him in the race.”

Also putting in good finishing times were the Charles Laird-trained Ice Machine that covered the final 400m on the turf in 21.51 secs. On the polytrack, the Mike de Kock filly Pine Princess clocked 21.6 secs and The Conglomerate was timed at 21.99 secs.

On individual looks, there was nothing to touch the star Dynasty colt Futura. He looked magnificent and while he was not asked to do much his mere presence and the way he went about his work left one with the impression that in spite of carrying top weight of 60kg – no winner of the race has carried more than 58kg since Monteith that shouldered 59kg in 1944 – he will still be a massive runner in this race.

Trainer Justin Snaith was not happy that the runners had been forced to gallop right on the outside of the track but appeared happy with his charge’s work while jockey Sean Cormack said it was a super gallop. Kevin Shea, now retired and a presenter at the meeting, was of the opinion that in spite of the weight, Futura would be a “massive runner”.

Trainer De Kock’s two fillies, Majmu and Pine Princess, both worked on the polytrack and he was happy with both of them. They were allowed to speed up and after Majmu’s work Shea said it gave one “goose bumps” just watching her beautiful action.

De Kock said in a brief interview after the gallops that the minor setback Majmu had experienced which led to her withdrawal from the Woolavington 2000 had not had any effect on the filly’s preparation and in fact might have been a good thing as she ran well when fresh.

Anthony Delpech let Pine Princess stretch out in the finishing straight and as she had appeared keen to get on with it early, she enjoyed really stretching her legs and put up a very good gallop.

The Conglomerate from the Joey Ramsden stable put up an impressive gallop, quickening up well in the straight. He has a nice action and stretched out well and Ramsden said he was happy with the work. He added that colt had been given a gallop at Summerveld before going to Greyville and when asked about the 20 draw he said it did not trouble him and it may be in the colt’s favour.

Marwing’s principal runner in the race, Wylie Hall, impressed with the manner of his work. He led the gallop from companion Isobar with his head tucked in early and displaying an air of confidence. He just got on with the job and strode out beautifully in the straight and looked magnificent.

When Deputy Judd from the Mike Azzie stable strode out in his gallop it would have taken many back some 37 years to when the orange with black crossed sashes and orange sleeves colours he sported were carried by one of the greatest horses in South Africa racing, the mighty Politician. The three-year-old Judpot colt looked outstanding which is a hallmark of the Azzie stable and he worked like he knew he had a major mission to complete.

Azzie said afterwards that the colt was a very laid back individual but he had come on a lot since coming to KwaZulu-Natal and he was “In the play.”

Also working well was Power King from the Dean Kannemeyer stable. He worked with stayer Solid Speed and was kept under a tight hold but had a presence about him which suggested we could see a very special performance from him in the big one in 10 days’ time.

Punta Arenas appeared to work better than Dynamic Power for trainer Stan Elley but both showed they were in top form as did the other runners Helderberg Blue, Tamaanee, Gold Onyx, Halve The Deficit and Dynamic.

The big race favourite Legal Eagle worked with Sean Tarry stable companion French Navy in a recorded gallop on the Highveld along with the Geoff Woodruff-trained Tellina. All three appeared to be working well in the less than perfect film but little could be extracted from the exercise other than they looked fit and well.

Picture: The Conglomerate (Nkosi Hlophe)