Candice Bass-Robinson, who will have her first Durban July runners, was disappointed when she heard that Horizon hadn’t made the cut but she was wearing a broad smile after watching the draw on television at Kenilworth.

“I am very happy with Nightingale (six) and nine is a perfect draw for Marinaresco,”she said. “He has to be given a chance and half to three-quarters the way back is where he needs to be ridden.”

Nine is one of the few draws not to have been successful in the past 16 years but Bernard Fayd’Herbe, drawn three when he dead-heated on Pocket Power in 2008, said: “I have still to study what is around me but I am happy enough with nine – it’s certainly better than ten and upwards.”

Greg Cheyne was also satisfied with Tilbury Fort’s 11 slot, saying: “He will come in one when the reserves come out and I started from ten when I won on Big City Life in 2009.”

Grant van Niekerk, drawn 11 and 17 on close-seconds Smanjemanje and Marinaresco, said of Black Arthur’s eight: “I am very happy. Thank you Justin Snaith!”

Aldo Domeyer, though,was less taken with Krambambuli’s 19, saying: “I was hoping for a good draw. Krambambuli’s going to need everything going his way – but you never know.”

By Michael Clower