RACE 1

Filly UP AND UP was a well-beaten 2nd on debut at long odds but she would’ve benefitted from that experience so could improve to play another leading role. However, there are several newcomers to note and the market should provide a guide to their chances on debut. PRINCE IVAR, OCTOBER REEF and HIGH FIDELITY are of particular interest before any betting clues. BRAVE ACT and Aussie-import MICRO JET are others to make note of. Follow the market moves!c

RACE 2

Runner-up in all 3 outings, LADY HARLEQUIN sets the standard and wouldn’t be winning out of turn. She finished 2nd in a Grade 3 last time behind a subsequent Grade 2 winner so a similar performance should suffice. SATISFIED outran market expectations (2nd) on debut and that course-and-distance experience stands her in good stead. CHAMPAGNE AIR, NEW YORK GROOVE, RUSHING RAPID, SHABEEN QUEEN and SUMMERFEST are well-bred newcomers and market support would be significant. Follow the betting moves!

RACE 3

MOUNT PINATUBO, COSMIC STAR and AFRICAN PRIDE are weighted to play leading roles but could be in better form. Veteran WILLIAM ROBERTSON fits a similar profile but will appreciate reverting to this trip. CHAPBOOK and KARATE KID are consistent performers at this level and could fight out the finish on the strength of their recent form. The latter was a last-start winner over 1160m so gets the nod off an unchanged mark.

RACE 4

SECRET FATE was heavily supported on debut and could hardly have been more impressive. She’s open to any amount of improvement with that experience under the belt so it could pay to follow her progress. POLLY PLUMMER caught the eye with a fast-finishing 2nd over 1200m on debut and on that evidence this extended trip should be more to her liking. LOVE NOT WAR, NO DRAMA and QUEEN LEILA have the form and experience to also make their presence felt. CELTIC MANOR has done enough to get into the picture too.

RACE 5

Impressive debut winner TIMELESS is bred to appreciate this extended trip so could remain unbeaten with natural improvement expected. LIFE IN COLOUR and SANDS OF VALHALLA are last-start winners capable posing a threat, as is PRAYERSANDPROMISES who is 3kg better off with WHAT A WARRIOR and better suited to this distance. Hat-trick seeking DADS DREAM downed older rivals under a big weight last time and is unbeaten with blinkers fitted, so he also warrants respect.

RACE 6

KING HARALD was an impressive winner at this level last time and should again have the measure of FIRE STORM and GOT THE FEELING on these terms. However, conceding weight to progressive ERROL FLYNN could prove a bridge too far. The latter, a Hollywoodbets Durban July entry, won over track and trip recently from the widest draw in first-time blinkers and should have more to offer. WINSTON’S WONDER and YIPPEE KIYAY complete the shortlist.

RACE 7

Last chance saloon for most of these with Hollywoodbets Durban July aspirations. Best-weighted duo of ATTICUS FINCH and OLIVIA’S WAY have proven feature-race form and should play leading roles. PRESSONREGARDLESS does not hold a July entry but is at the top of his game. He runs best for Craig Zackey and could extend his winning sequence. THE EQUATOR, COPPER EAGLE, HOTARUBI and WORLD OF ALICE could get into the picture if building on improved recent efforts.

RACE 8

GRAND EMPIRE sets the standard on the form of his last start Grade 1 success in the SA Classic. He has a bit to find at the weights but is progressive and the tongue-tie he wore for the first time in his last start is retained. Fellow recent scorers MONEY HEIST and KAMENSKY remain competitive under their 2-point penalties but have less scope for improvement than the 3yo selection. KISSHOTEN, DESTINY OF FIRE and BOB’S YOUR UNCLE appeal most of the remainder.

RACE 9

TINTIN lost little in defeat when 2nd to a Durban July entry over 1600m in his first go at the distance. He drops in class off an unchanged mark and a repeat of his latest performance should suffice in this grade. DARK SILVER is held on that form but has another money chance, as does STREISAND who has form at a higher level, albeit against female opposition. BUDDY BOY, PRINCE OF KILDARE and FORCE PUBLIQUE have earning potential too.

RACE 10

COLD SHINE made a winning Highveld debut in a stronger race so a 3-point penalty shouldn’t prevent him from running another forward race, especially given the benefit of his rider’s 1.5kg allowance. SLENDER SILHOUETTE acquitted herself well on handicap debut against male opposition at a higher level last month. She would have tightened up since and should fight out the finish off an unchanged mark. Class-droppers EXECUTRIX and ADA LOVELACE should also be competitive in this grade. LEGENDARY appeals most of the remainder.

Please Note: South African Quartet Pools with fractional betting offered at Goodwood (UK) – 7 June 2026.

Andrew Harrison

After a slow start to his riding career, apprentice Blaine Marx-Jacobson has burst onto the scene in recent months and currently heads the national Apprentice Championship. One of his early mentors was Louis Goosen and that combination came good with veteran galloper Donquerari in the B Stakes that headed the card on the poly at Hollywoodbets Greyville yesterday.

A touch unlucky at his previous start when checked at a crucial stage of the race, this win was a just reward for Donquerari as Marx-Jacobson rode a patient race. Content to take a hold in the early exchanges as Vanakkam and Pop Chart set a break-neck pace up front that saw both put up the white flag early in the straight. Marx-Jacobson slipped Donquerari up the inside of his field with Connery also in contention. It was left to the three apprentices in the race to fight out the finish with Jacey Botes, reunited with his favourite mount Connery, and Anaas Mosaheb chasing home for third aboard Kalahari Roller.

Hazel Green was sent out favourite for the second but after disputing the lead for much of the race with Magical Spring, both folded quickly as apprentice Dezahn Louw, who had sat in just off the pace on Wendy Whitehead’s filly, sent Dancing In Demark for home and she waltzed into the lead to win by and extended margin with the luckless Tipperary chasing home a well beaten second.

There was a desperate finish to the first leg of the Pick 6 with Nicholas Patel getting Last Ovation up in the shadow of the post for a dead-heat. Keagan de Melo made his move on Skipper O’Malley behind the Drill Hall to quicken up the pace and it looked to be a winning move as he pinched a lead in the straight. However, Gareth van Zyl’s filly gradually ate into the lead with Skipper O’Malley crying for the line and just managing to hang on to share the spoils, with Crimson Typhoon running on stoutly for the minor money.

Visiting Thoonsil won an excellent race in the Class 4 Handicap making all the running and holding off a strong challenge from Blizzard Boy in another tight finish.

Tristan Godden set a solid gallop aboard Mano Pandaram’s gelding and was in a race of his own until the last 200m as the field change places behind him every furlong or so. Serino Moodley made an early move on The Wolf but that came to nothing as Thoonsil kept galloping and it was Blizzard Boy that came out of the pack and looked to be going on by, but Thoonsil stuck to his guns as Blizzard Boy’s challenge faltered over the last 100m.

Apprentice Girish Dookhit took a leaf out of Tristan Godden’s book and made all the running on Alyson Wright’s seven-year-old Ultra Quick in the Class 5 Apprentice Handicap. Setting comfortable early fractions the gelding lasted just long enough to hold off challenges from Mountainsofthemoon and National Dream.

Godden employed the same tactics as he had earlier on Thoonsil, making all the running on outsider Little Cracker. Jumping from the widest draw, Godden had Tony Rivalland’s gelding out in a flash and was not for the catching. Challenges came from all sides but Little Cracker kept up a relentless gallop with Lunch Money and Paratrooper unable to get on terms.

Time In Paris looked set for a major upset in the last of the day as Anaas Mosaheb took Kom Naidoo’s mare to the lead, one she fought gamely to hold to. But it was in vain as Mxolisi Mbuto, hanging on to Marx-Jacobson’s tail in the Apprentice Championship, pulled one back as he got Lucinda Woodruff’s filly to respond gamely up the inside fence to eventually wear down the pacemaker with favourite Preacher Man a well-beaten third.

David Thiselton

The Daily News 2000 meeting always has an impact on the Hollywoodbets Durban July and the reaction of the handicappers and the bookmakers to the result of the Daily News 2000 and to the Woolavington 2000 is always one of the talking points.

Owner Jonathan Bloch has only ever had one Durban July runner before and it had an interesting name, Ess Five Beaches, which was the address of a residence owned by the late great owner-breeder Graham Beck. However, Bloch now part-owns all three of the horses who are currently at the top of the July boards with the sponsor,  Star Major, Note To Self and Wish List.

It is always interesting that the bookmakers seem to prefer winners to lightly weighted horses, because of course the handicappers job is to equalize the chances of horses in a race if they were to meet again. The handicappers used the fourth-placed Viva’s Liberte as the line horse for the Daily News 2000 and raised Star Major four points to 122 and raised Happy Verse nine points to 119.

However, the sponsor shortened Star Major to  7/2, with Note To Self and Wish List now 11/2, while Happy Verse is out at 8/1 together with See It Again and Regulation.

Punters might prefer to look for horses who benefit from the raise in weights of others.

Note To Self should be cherry ripe for the July and being by stamina influence Futura out of a mare by stamina influence Judpot augurs well for the step up in trip to 2200m. Note To Self didn’t have as immediate a turn of foot as Star Major or Happy Verse and another discussion point might be whether he would benefit from blinkers. This might help him gallop resolutely from a long way out and make it into a stamina test.

Happy Verse has always been a horse who has oozed class and he is now beginning to fulfil it. The Daily News 2000 was his third run after gelding and he at last showed the class he had always promised. He can progress further as he had a nice smooth race in the Daily News and that should have brought him on, so he should be a big runner in the July. He is by Vercingetorix, who won the Daily News 2000 and a Gr 1 in Dubai over the same trip, out of a mare by stamina influence Giant’s Causeway, so he should also enjoy the July trip.

Star Major will also be a big runner. His part-owner Ravi Naidoo has preached this horse from a long time ago and he has proved to be spot on.  The Querari colt has matured into a top class horse and can follow in the footsteps of the like of Big City Life and Legislate by winning the Guineas, the Daily News and the July, although the latter pair had also both won the Cape Derby before arriving in KZN. Big City Life carried a mere 51kg in the July in an era when topweight was 58kg, while Legislate carried a record weight for a winning three-year-old of 56kg in a race where topweight was 60kg, although he did win it via the boardroom with an upheld objection whose outcome drew plenty of criticism. Star Major will, as things stand, carry 56kg too, although the topweight this year will be 62kg.

A horse who has snuck into the July picture is the Gr1 SA Classic winner Grand Empire. He was in position 20 on the first July log, but after the scratching of both Okavango and Jan Van Goyen, he could come into the all important top 18. On the negative side for Grand Empire is, although he might end up with bottom weight, how good a preparation is he going to have had by the time of the July? His final run before the July comes on Sunday at Turffontein in a 1400m Pinnacle event, so he will not have enjoyed as good a build up into the big race as the like of Happy Verse have had.

Happy Verse was in the outside looking in horses on the first log, and will likely leapfrog Grand Empire, so the latter might still be under pressure for a place in the final field.

On the other hand, Hazy Dazy, who was in 14th place on the first log, might be in trouble after seemingly being outclassed in the Daily News by the males as she was beaten 11,40 lengths into 8th. She might be dropped from the log.

Wish List has the same 117 rating as Hazy Dazy, so will carry 53,5kg in the July as things stand. Her four wins on the trot include two Gr 1s and two Gr 2s. She will easily get the July trip being a daughter of Legislate out of a Silvano mare, Wind Chill, who won the SA Oaks. There are not many horses who would fetched the pacemaker the way she did on Saturday as she had to make up a lot of ground up off a slow pace. However, the question is how much the effort took out of her. It was likely not quite the race the connections had envisaged.

Meanwhile, the next big upheaval to the betting and log positions etc happens this Saturday in the Gr 1 Hollywoodbets Gold Challenge race meeting, which not only features the Gold Challenge itself, but also the all important Gr 3 Betgames Cup Trial over 1800m, which is always a big July pointer race.

Regulation will be under big pressure to win the Cup Trial. He is an 8/1 shot for the July with the sponsor, despite having been in the outside looking in horses on the first log. He will likely need to win the race to definitely force his way in and on the downside he has drawn wide in barrier ten out of 11 for Saturday’s race. If he does win it there will be more pressure on the like of borderline horses like Grand Empire.