It is seven years since a Gr 1 Rising Sun Gold Challenge winner went on to win the Vodacom Durban July, but the double could possibly be done again this year as the ruling favourite for the country’s biggest horseracing event, Futura, will be lining up in the Gold Challenge at Greyville on Saturday.
However, this will be the Justin Snaith-trained superstar’s return bout with his new stablemate Legislate, having stolen the latter’s limelight when winning the Gr 1 L’Ormarin’s Queen’s Plate in early January.
Snaith said about Saturday’s big clash, “Futura has come on lengths from his last run and has put up a very good gallop on the Summerveld grass since. He couldn’t be better and I’m very happy. He’s a very nice natured horse and is a pleasure to train. Legislate also galloped on the grass at Summerveld on Monday. He was blowing a little bit and that’s what we wanted as we hope he comes on from that. It’s hard to be sure whether he will be back to his best, but he’s doing well enough and he likes to run fresh. They are both well and I wouldn’t want to change anything.”
Legislate was thought to be virtually unbeatable in the Queen’s Plate, having broken the Kenilworth 1600m Old Course record when winning the Gr 2 Green Point Stakes in his seasonal reappearance. However, he finished stone last and was subsequently found to have serious lung infection, so has not been seen out again since.
Meanwhile, Futura, still conditioned at that stage by his original trainer Brett Crawford, stamped himself as the best horse in the country by winning the J&B Met.
Later, in one of the shocks of the season, the three-time Gr 1 winning Dynasty colt left the Crawford yard due to a dispute among the ownership syndicate and joined Snaith.
Crawford had also nurtured Futura to a win in the Gr 1 Champions Cup over 1800m at Greyville in his final start as a three-year-old and that was after some had felt he had been unlucky in the July, having been caught in behind a slow pace.
Futura has everything a top class racehorse needs from a laid back temperament, the ability to relax in the running, a fantastic turn of foot as well as plenty of speed but also the stamina to stay the 2200m of the July. Furthermore, he announced his well-being on May 17 by winning his Champions Season pipe opener over 1600m at Greyville in cosy fashion under his new jockey Sean Cormack.
Legislate, who is also a four-year-old colt by Dynasty, has proved he has all of those credentials himself, having won all of the Gr 1 Investec Cape Derby, the Gr 2 KRA Guineas, the Gr 1 Daily News 2000 and the July last year. The latter three wins proved his liking for Greyville. He won the July last year only after a controversial objection, but he was deservedly named Equus Horse Of The Year. His class, exemplified by his tremendous turn of foot, was then seen at its maximum in the Green Point, where he put up a truly world class performance.
However, the Queen’s Plate run put a dampener on his future. Furthermore, in his intended comeback recently, in the IOS Drill Hall Stakes, he had to be scratched after kicking the pens. This misfortune and the subsequent trip from the start back to the parade ring apparently took a lot out of him and a couple of days later the Snaith yard declared him a doubtful runner in the July. Snaith said over the weekend that his July participation was still up in the air and advised punters to keep their ante-post betting money in their pockets for now.
The International Federation of Horseracing Authorities had the Gold Challenge as the only South African horseracing event in its world 100 top races recently. The ratings are calculated by averaging the merit of the first four finishers as accorded by the Longines Worlds Best Racehorse Rankings.
Snaith in fact trained the last horse to do the Gold Challenge-July double in the same season. In 2008 his superstar grey filly Dancer’s Daughter quickened superbly off a slow pace to win the Gold Challenge at Clairwood under Weichong Marwing and then ran on strongly under Kevin Shea to dead-heat with the great Pocket Power in one of the most exciting July’s of all time.
Saturday will tell whether Legislate is the same horse he was before the Queen’s Plate. If he is this clash of the Snaith-trained titans could well be the highlight of the season, although it is by no means a two horse race.
By David Thiselton
Picture: Futura (Nkosi Hlophe)
