The competitive battle for a place in the final field for the R4.25-million, Grade 1 Vodacom Durban July goes into its next round at Greyville Racecourse next Friday, 20 May 2016, where 12 of the 17 runners carded for the R400 000, Grade 2 Betting World 1900 are entries for Africa’s Greatest Horseracing Event taking place on Saturday, July 2.
The three-year-olds have already shown they could feature strongly in the final 18-horse field for the country’s premier event after some top performances in the Canon Guineas and Daisy Fillies Guineas and with the Daily News 2000 and Woolavington 2000 still to come at the end of the month their influence could become even greater.
St Tropez (Nkosi Hlophe)
The legendary Betting World 1900 that will be run for the 90th time on May 20 and will also mark the final TGIF regular night racemeeting at Greyville for the current season to return on a regular basis on September 23.
The race will be one of the last chances for the older horses to impress the July selection panel with only the Rising Sun Gold Challenge and Cup Trial to come and runners like Master’s Eye, Solid Speed, Dynastic Power and The Conglomerate, that are currently on the outside looking in on the Log, will need solid performances if they are to enhance their chances.
The Betting World 1900 has always been seen as one of the major pointers to the Vodacom Durban July and has produced nine horses that have gone on to win the coveted event in the same year. With a lot at stake one could see a much improved run from the Joey Ramsden-trained gelding The Conglomerate and a few others. The four-year-old displayed top-level ability as a three-year-old but he lost his way in the latter part of last year.
With this being his second run after being gelded, he could show considerable improvement on his less than spirited performance in the Independent On Saturday Drill Hall Stakes and this would certainly have the July selection panel sitting up and taking greater interest in his potential as a big race participant.
Another Ramsden runner, St Tropez, has had two races since running second to Ultimate Dollar in the tabGOLD 2200 last year but will have his first outing since running unplaced from a wide draw in the Summer Cup in November. His major bid for a Vodacom Durban July berth could be aimed at the Rising Sun Gold Challenge with this race being a “pipe-opener” after such a long break but top stables know how to get horses ready and even if needing the outing he could be very competitive.
On the other hand, Solid Speed and It Is Written from the Dean Kannemeyer stable are both in good form and could be major players in this race and make an impression for the big race. This could apply also to runners like the Justin Snaith-trained Dynastic Power that finished third in the recent Sledgehammer and Master Switch from the Geoff Woodruff yard that was third in the Drumstar in April and won a pinnacle stakes race comfortably over 2 000 at Turffontein in his last outing.
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