Owner Adriaan van Vuuren was on course at Greyville on Saturday and said his beloved  Lammerskraal Stud-bred Mike Azzie-trained SA Triple Crown-winning hero Abashiri had recovered well from his grueling SA Derby victory and if things continued to go well he would definitely line up for the Vodacom Durban July.

Van Vuuren has won many fans due to both his passion for the Sport Of Kings and an obvious love of horses and he is already embracing the July with the same enthusiasm he brought to Turffontein for the Triple Crown bid.

In fact on Saturday he delivered a gift bag to the manager of Lammerskraal Stud, Sally Jourdan, which contained, all in his bright orange colours, an Abashiri theme scarf, cap, bottle of champagne, flash drive with all of his wins on it, a ‘King Abashiri’ saddle cloth, and a personalised T-Shirt for Jourdan with the words “Abashiri, Vodacom Durban July 2016 here we come” and on the back “Go Abba go.”

David Thiselton