The Vodacom Durban July Final Field and Draw ceremony took place at Greyville today and most of the fancied runners landed pleasing barrier positions.

The unlucky horse to be left out of the field of 18 was Dynamic, who at 25/1 in the ante-post market was quietly fancied by many, although he is the first reserve. He looked to be one of a few horses contesting three places left open by the scratchings of Legislate, Ertijaal and No Worries.

Helderberg Blue was another of these and although Dynamic has beaten him three times from four meetings, the 3,5kg swing Helderberg Blue will get in his favour for a 0,75 length beating by Dynamic in the Cup Trial last time, together with the fact that Helderberg Blue placed third in one of the country’s premier races, the J&B Met, probably swung it in Helderberg Blue’s favour. Tamaanee had genuine excuses for her below par Gr 1 Woolavington run and will be only 1,5kg under sufferance in the July, compared to Dynamic’s 2,5kg, while both Ice Machine and Hot Ticket have high merit ratings and will be in the handicap. Dynamic is the first reserve and second reserve is KRA Guineas runner up and Daily News 2000 fifth-placed Mac De Lago, who is 3kg under sufferance.

The popular grey filly Majmu drew one of the loudest cheers of the ceremony when her four-times July-winning trainer Mike de Kock drew pole position.

Next up was the part-owner of Punta Arenas, Mike Fullard, and this horse drew badly in a big race for the umpteenth time in 19.

Weiho Marwing’s Wylie Hall will have plenty of sentimental support, due to the controversial objection last year which saw him demoted from first to second, and there was spontaneous applause when he drew two.

The fancied The Conglomerate drew wide out in 20.

By the time the original favourite Futura’s chance arrived there were not many single figure draws left and trainer Justin Snaith must have feared the worst. However, he drew perfectly in six and Snaith returned to the table highly relieved. Earlier, he had been most disappointed at the omission of Dynamic.

The new ruling favourite Legal Eagle’s draw was also keenly anticipated and jockey Anton Marcus was happy with barrier position eleven.

The fancied French Navy landed a nice draw of ten.

The two reserves Dynamic and Mac De Lago drew 17 and four respectively, so horses above them in the draw will come in a position or two, unless there are any scratchings.

By David Thiselton

Picture: Majmu (JC Photo)

Young riding superstar Chad Schofield will return to the country of his birth to have his first ride in the Vodacom Durban July aboard the fancied Joey Ramsden-trained The Conglomerate.

It will be the first time the Australian-based Chad has ridden in South Africa. However, he is sure to receive plenty of valuable advice on the ins and outs of the tight Greyville circuit from his father Glyn, a top South African jockey who was based in Durban before relocating to Australia in December 2007. Furthermore, Glyn’s former riding agent Blane Hamilton has been attempting to secure more rides on the big day for Chad, so he should have had some feel of the course by the time the July starts. Hamilton confirmed Chad was very excited in anticipation of this opportunity.

Ramsden said these days it was becoming increasingly difficult to find lightweight jockeys and the connections had decided to begin looking around when no phone calls for the ride were forthcoming. He added they had considered a number of options on who to bring in, so the decision had not been made lightly. Ramsden said The Conglomerate had been doing very well at Summerveld. The three-year-old Australian-bred Lohnro colt is back in full fast work after being given a bit of a lighter schedule for a couple of weeks after his third place in the Daily News on May 30. The astute trainer should thereby have him peaking at exactly the right time. The Conglomerate was as short as 7/1 for the July after his impressive win in the Gr 2 KRA Guineas, but has drifted out to 14/1 in the face of support for the like of Legal Eagle and French Navy.

Glyn has ridden in seven Julys and his best finish was sixth on The Sheik in 2001. He benefitted enormously from a stint in Hong Kong about ten years ago and it was clear upon his return to South Africa that he had progressed into a world class jockey. In the next couple of seasons in South Africa he often outrode his colleagues simply through his peerless judgement of pace.

He has clearly been an inspiration to Chad, who took the Australian racing scene by storm after making his debut in 2010. Chad is the only jockey to win the apprentice title in both Melbourne and Sydney, a feat that is unlikely to ever be repeated. Still in his early 20s, he has already notched up a number of important wins, most notably aboard Shamus Award in the 2013 Cox Plate which provided him with his first Gr 1 success.

He added three more Gr 1s to his CV in 2014, the Newmarket Handicap on Lankan Rupee, the Champagne Stakes on Go Indy Go and the Queensland Derby on Sonntag. Injuries and suspensions have curtailed Chad’s time in the saddle but he is still very much in demand.  Last week he travelled to ride Australian trainer David Hayes’ New Zealand-bred raider Criterion in the Gr 1 Prince Of Wales’s Stakes at the Royal Ascot meeting. They finished a respectable 3,75 length fifth. He was also recently granted a six month license to ride next season in Hong Kong, one of the world’s biggest racing stages.

By David Thiselton

Picture: Chad Schofield

The Vodacom Durban July Final Field and Draw ceremony will be held in the Classic Room at Greyville tomorrow (Tuesday) and the panelists tasked with choosing the final 18 runners with two reserves only look to have one tough decision to make this year. However, it will likely have the usual repercussions and being on this panel must be one of the most unenviable positions in racing.  

Their job this year has been made easier by the important scratchings of Legislate, Ertijaal and No Worries, who were all in the top 18 on the last July log.

However, realistically there are only five horses with claims to fill those three places.

The Equus Champion Stayer Hot Ticket is one of them, but he likely needed to win the Gr 2 Track And Ball Derby on Sunday to ensure his place. Instead he finished a narrow second. However, running in a 2400m event just less than two weeks before the July is not an ideal preparation anyway and this horse’s chief target is undoubtedly the Gr 1 eLan Property Group Gold Cup on Super Saturday. However, Hot Ticket could well be announced as one of the two reserve runners.

That leaves Ice Machine, Dynamic, Helderberg Blue and Mac De Lago and it is likely that the final berth will be fought out by the last three mentioned.

Ice Machine, who won the Gr 2 Drill Hall Stakes, was fancied for the Gr 1 Rising Sun Gold Challenge before unfortunately going lame somewhere between Summerveld and Greyville.  However, he was 19^th on the last July log and has done nothing wrong since, so should be an automatic to fill one of the three places. Some will claim he won’t stay the 2200m July trip, but he has won over 1800m and in his second attempt at the J&B Met over 2000m last year he ran on well for a 3,4 length sixth, beating the like of a No Worries, Wylie Hall and Hot Ticket, who all appeared on the last July log.

Dynamic, Helderberg Blue, Mac De Lago and Hot Ticket were all among the five horses listed in alphabetical order just outside the top 20 in that last log. They will all leapfrog the log’s 20^th placed horse Athina, who finished a tailed off last in the Gr 3 Cup Trial last time out and has duly been scratched. The fifth horse in the list just outside the top 20 was Unparalleled, who has also been scratched.

Dynamic was close up placed in all of the Listed Sledgehammer, the Gr 2 Betting World 1900 and the Gr 3 Cup Trial and beat Helderberg Blue in the latter two races. However, Helderberg Blue will be 3,5kg better off with Dynamic in the July for a mere 0,75 length beating in the Cup Trial (Dynamic carried 0,5kg overweight in that race). Helderberg Blue also comfortably beat Dynamic when finishing third in the Gr 1 J&B Met, although the latter was below par that day. Therefore, Helderberg Blue has just as strong a claim as Dynamic to make the final field.

The three-year-old Mac De Lago ran on very well for second in the Gr 2 KRA Guineas before staying on well for 5^th in the Gr 1 Daily News 2000. He is merit rated 104, three points higher than Dynamic and three points lower than Helderberg Blue. However, he is set to carry the same weight as Dynamic in the July of 53kg. Three-year-olds should receive 2kg in a true handicap over 2200m in July from older horses according to the weight for age scale. This means that while Mac De Lago will officially be 3kg under sufferance in the July, Dynamic will only be 2,5kg under sufferance, so it would be difficult to favour one over the other based on merit ratings.

Finding two places for those three horses is likely to cause much debate among the panelists and, despite there looking likely to be only one unlucky horse, the decision making process will probably bring on as many headaches as usual.

By David Thiselton

The new Vodacom Durban July favourite Legal Eagle will almost certainly be the best weighted horse on paper that the Vodacom Durban July has seen since merit ratings were introduced to South African in 1999, as the handicappers have raised him eight points to 120 for his 4,3 length romp in the Gr 3 Jubilee Handicap over 1800m on Sunday, and on form he looks to be worth every one of those points.

His July weight will remain unaltered on 54kg, because the weights were published in the week before the Jubilee Handicap. This means he will be 4kg better off than he should be in a true handicap. He will be 3kg better off than he would be if the weights had been set after the Jubilee, because the maximum weight for a three-year-old in the July is 57kg.

Anton Marcus warned straight after Sunday’s race that there should not be a “knee jerk”  reaction to Legal Eagle’s easy victory.

However, whichever way it is looked at, the form does not support his caution.

Legal Eagle beat Judicial by 4,3 lengths and Killua Castle by 5,1 lengths when giving them 3,5kg and 1kg respectively. In the month of June three-year-olds receive an allowance of 2kg from older horses over a distance of 1800m, meaning Legal Eagle’s performance was about 20 merit rated points superior to Judicial’s and 16 merit rated points superior to Killua Castle’s.

Wylie Hall beat Judicial by 9,2 lengths in the President’s Champions Challenge over 2000m at level weights and beat Killua Castle by 6,6 lengths in that race when giving him 1kg. His performance was therefore about 16 merit rated points superior to Judicial’s and 13 merit rated points superior to Killua Castle’s.

Wylie Hall now has to give Legal Eagle 4kg in the Vodacom. That amount of weight would be worth four merit rated points considering three-year-olds should receive an allowance of 2kg from older horses in the month of July over a distance of 2200m.

Therefore, on a line through Killua Castle, Legal Eagle should beat  Wylie Hall by 4,75 lengths in the July and on a line through Judicial he should beat Wylie Hall by 4,1 lengths.

The above calculations were made by using the official handicapping factor of 2.0, that is the drag effect measured in 0,5kg units of races from 1300-1800m, and the official factor of 1,7, the drag effect measured in 0,5kg of races from 1801-2200m. It also used the official allocation of one merit rated point per 0,5kg of weight.

It can get become very confusing but amateur handicapping can give punters an edge and the website http://www.nhra.co.za/pubs/docs/handicapping/Handicapping_Guidelines.pdf is well worth studying.

The bookmakers  initially shortened Legal Eagle to 4/1 after his Jubilee run, but have been now forced to cramp the odds even further to 5/2.

Previous favourite Futura, who is also merit rated 120 and has to carry 60kg, has drifted out to 7/2 and Majmu has gone right out to 6/1. Wylie Hall on 7/1 and French Navy on 10/1 are next best in the betting.

By David Thiselton

Picture: Legal Eagle (JC Photos)

Freeman Stallions has secured the syndication and management rights to Wylie Hall. Michael Leaf’s star son of the Australian legend Redoute’s Choice will stand at Vaughan Koster’s Cheveley Stud Farm in Ceres after the 2015 renewal of the Gr1 Vodacom Durban July.

Having won the Gr1 SA Derby in fine style, Wylie Hall grabbed international attention in last year’s Vodacom Durban July and then lowered the top performing Grade 1 filly Majmu’s (Redoute’s Choice) flag in the star studded Gr1 President’s Champions Challenge earlier this year. Wylie Hall has been first past the post in three Gr1 races with career earnings of over R3.6million, 6 wins from 1400m to 2450m and 9 places. He earned a cheque in 10 black type races – 6 of them at Gr1 level. He is being aimed at the Vodacom Durban July (Saturday, July 4) again this year and will then retire.

Wylie Hall was the Racing Association’s Champion 3yo Of The Feature Season in 2013 and he was Horse Of The Season, Champion Middle Distance Horse and Champion Older Horse in 2015.

Wylie Hall’s owner Michael Leaf was recognised by the Racing Association and Gold Circle as Owner Of The Month in May this year. Leaf grew up in a family that loved racing and now, with a string of over 40 horses, he is well known as a gentleman of the game, successful racehorse owner and breeder with a growing broodmare band.

By Freeman Stallions

The annual Vodacom Durban July three-year-old versus older horse debate will begin in earnest this week as the countdown to the final field announcement next Tuesday begins.

The three-year-old fillies crop was for a long time seen as a vintage one and they duly had an unprecedented six representatives on the first July log. However, their reputation was dented on Gr1 Daily News day.

Firstly, in the Gr 1 Woolavington 2000, Smart Call’s upset victory in which she narrowly beat the SA Oaks winner and staying type, Pine Princess, put a slight question mark on the Johannesburg form, where her best feature race finish was two length third in the Gr 2 Wilgerbosdrift Gauteng Guineas. Furthermore, the Gr 1 Laurie Jaffee Empress Club third-placed Tamaanee, who was an impressive winner of the Gr 2 Gerald Rosenberg over 2000m, could only manage a well beaten ninth, while the dual Gr 1-winning Inara’s fifth place also put a question mark on the Cape sophomore form.

The best of the crop Majmu, had meanwhile been scratched from the Woolavington in the morning due to a spiked temperature. Later, Siren’s Call, who went within a stride of landing the Triple Tiara, was beaten before she had turned for home in the Daily News. This was the second time she had been beaten by three-year-old males, who have spent most of the season being criticised as a below par crop.

However, there were some genuine excuses. Smart Call relished a change in tactics. Inara was run into from behind and trainer Mike Bass also believed she didn’t quite  stay the trip. Tamaanee lifted a shoe which was then found to be bent into her foot. Furthermore, the perennial Triple Tiara bridesmaid in Johannesburg, Trophy Wife, ran third without any excuses, which provided some confirmation of the Johannesburg form.

Siren’s Call was caught wide and rushed up the hill, so not surprisingly found little extra, and she was also coming off an ultra tough Highveld campaign.

Nevertheless, there are now only three sophomore fillies still involved in the July, Majmu, Pine Princess and Tamaanee.

The three-year-old colts were given a boost in the Daily News 2000 when the Gr 1 SA Classic winner and SA Derby third-placed French Navy stormed home impressively to beat the Gr 1 Investec Cape Derby winner Ertijaal. Third-placed The Conglomerate also came from classic form, having won the Gr 2 KRA Guineas in comfortable fashion. Furthermore, the unlucky horse was Deputy Jud, who had finished third in the SA Classic and runner up in the SA Derby.

The impressive SA Derby winner Legal Eagle then gave the three-year-old males a further boost on Sunday when slamming a field of older horses in the Gr 3 Jubilee Handicap over 1800m despite carrying topweight.

Suddenly, the three-year-old males have become the talk of the town.

The criticism of the three-year-old male crop was largely based on them not having fared well in open company, as well as by facile Investec Cape Derby winner Ertijaal’s failure in both the SA Classic and SA Derby. However, Unparalleled and Kingvoldt were the only two that had really been tested against older horses in features and the latter’s class is questionable, considering his Investec Dingaans victory was achieved in boggy ground, while Kingvoldt was already having coltish issues when running below par in the L’Ormarin’s Queen’s Plate. The like of French Navy were beaten in ordinary handicaps in the early season, but that is not unusual, even for the best three-year-olds.

Legal Eagle’s defeat in an ordinary 1700m handicap in March off a merit rating of a mere 74 was his first time out the maidens and just his third career start. Lastly, Ertijaal’s dislike of soft ground was confirmed by his good Daily News run, although he has unfortunately been scratched from the July.

Legal Eagle’s demolition job on Sunday came off a merit rating of 112 and showed just how much he has blossomed. However, there are still question marks because second-placed Judicial and third-placed Killua Castle were well beaten by Wylie Hall in the President’s Champions Challenge.

The most fancied older horse is ruling July favourite Futura, who is viewed by some as invincible at his peak, even considering the 60kg he has to carry.

Wylie Hall also looks top class. An upside for the older horses is that Wylie Hall defeated one of the most fancied three-year-olds in the July betting, Majmu, by 1,25 lengths in the Gr 1 President’s Champions Challenge over 2000m and, taking the weight for age scale into account, the pair will face each other on identical terms in the July. The question mark is whether Majmu ran a bit of a flat race in the Challenge, it being her second run after a layoff.

Majmu’s class is beyond question. However, although she will carry the same weight of 55kg that Igugu carried to July victory in 2011, she does have a harder task as she will run off a 114 merit rating compared to Igugu’s 109.

Other older horses with chances are Punta Arenas, who is clearly thriving at Summerveld, and Halve The Deficit who looks quite well weighted on recent form. Helderberg Blue and Tellina will be fairly well weighted in comparison to Futura from the Met, while the best might not yet have been seen from Dynamic, who is officially 2,5kg under sufferance.

The downside for the older horses is that the Met form has not been convincingly stamped by the placed horses Helderberg Blue, Gold Onyx and Tellina.

Furthermore, No Worries let the form of the Gr 1 President’s Champions Challenge down.

Virtually every year these days the older July analysts make the same mistake of saying “a three-year-old can never win with that weight”, without stopping to think of the class dilution that each older crop has suffered in the last decade or two due to the export of many of the best overseas. They usually end up with egg on their faces, but this year they perhaps have a higher chance than normal of being right.

By David Thiselton

With the withdrawal of last year’s Vodacom Durban July winner, Legislate, Justin Snaith has set his focus on his two contenders – Futura and Dynamic.

Futura, the current favourite, has it all to do with top weight as he bids to become the first horse in history to win this Premier race with 60 kilos – a mammoth task.

Justin Snaith remained upbeat at his Summerveld yard this weekend “Futura has impressed me enormously and this horse is a real superstar – I’ve trained champions and this horse is as good as they get anywhere in the world. I do however feel the handicapper has done everything he can to stop Futura from winning this race – as the saying goes – weight stops trains. Futura has to give the likes of Heavy Metal, who won this race two years ago, seven kilos. I will however have him at his very best and whether he can make history and give the entire South Africa tons of weight, remains to be seen.”

Snaith’s other runner, Dynamic, needs serious consideration at the weights. This gelding has produced three eye-catching performances in all of his Durban starts – each from wide draws.

Dynamic beat Helderberg Blue earlier this season when winning the Gr 2 Premier Trophy (Power King 3^rd) and is now 1kg better off than Helderberg Blue (in the July) for that run.

Justin was very confident about his chances “Dynamic is currently 13^th favourite but he will finish far closer than that and he will be right in the firing line with Richard Fourie up. I have not had him this well since he took Capetown Noir to a short-head in the Gr 1 Derby. At 40-1 he is dark horse and I give him an outstanding chance at the weights.”

Dynamic is lightly raced and has only been unplaced in one start when he pulled up coughing in the J&B Met earlier this year with the same virus that saw Legislate finish last in the Queen’s Plate.

By Snaith Racing

Craig “Eagle Eye” Peters proved himself one of the world’s best racing commentators in the 1980s and 1990s and will be calling a record 30^th Vodacom Durban July this year.

Efficiency makes a good commentator but “the voice” is what separates the greats from the rest of the pack and in the days when there were no off course visuals Peters’ unique  tones and commentary style generated an electrically charged atmosphere into the packed betting rooms. The crowd hung on his every word and those that had, for arguments sake, backed Illustrador, would be hoping to hear his tone reach a crescendo at the 300m mark with the words “BUT ILL-USSS-TRADORRRR!!”. The emphasised pronunciation would immediately be followed by a roar. Peters was rarely wrong when he put his opinion on the line. He was also known for his ability to separate horses in a tight finish and KZN’s on course disseminator, Roy Parker, began calling him “Eagle Eye”.

Craig’s son Sheldon, who became the youngest to call a July in 2002, has followed in his footsteps and non-regular racegoers can hardly tell their voices apart. The pair became the world’s first father-son combination to call a big race simultaneously in 2004, one being the on course commentator and the other for the SABC. Sheldon will be calling his 14^th July this year.

July week for a broadcaster is always hectic due to panel discussions and functions, but in his earlier days Craig didn’t mind a late pre-July Friday night, knowing that he would not be able to sleep anyway.

Pouring over the form is also important on the eve of the race. He said, “A commentator needs to be an all rounder. You need to know colours, which horses jump slowly, the betting, the merit ratings, well handicapped and badly handicapped horses, the breeders, owners, trainers and jockeys. Today the eyes of the world are on you before, during and after the race.”

Peters lack of sleep before Julys had no adverse affects. The phone rings off the hook in the commentary box, the day goes by in a “blur”, and the mind is kept alert by the pumping adrenalin.

The nerves settle during the July canter past. It is here that the commentator first feels an indescribable connection to the crowd. With just a slight change of tone, he can spark a huge cheer.

Peters confirmed, “The crowd are with you all the time.”

Peters’ normal pre-race routine is to take note of the colours as the jockeys mount and then, when they canter past, he will call the horse’s name publically once but also many times over in his head. As they are circling at the start he will go through all of the horses over and over again and imagine them in a race situation. Even then there is invariably a voice in the back of the head saying, “Have I done enough homework?”

The commentaries themselves are instinctive and only when listening to the replay will he know what he had said.

No great commentator will ever plan a commentary, but Peters never forgets to mention the sponsors name at the off and provide excitement throughout with his changes in tone and pitch. Being aware of the listeners is paramount and if commentating for TV he will call off the TV, as long as the camerawork is good enough, in order to have the same perspective as the viewer.

He also invariably throws in one or two of the phrases that he has become famous for and which many latter day commentators have copied. He first noticed their impact the day he said spontaneously of the brilliant but ill-fated juvenile Delectable  Day “And he’s breathing fire, this one is every inch a racehorse!” Roget’s Thesaurus has helped him compile hundreds of these phrases. Sayings like “And Its tickets and tax!” serve to break the tension for punters and are much appreciated.

Craig regards his first July commentary in 1984, won by Devon Air, as a memorable one, despite his nerves. He remembers emphasising her name as she moved forward and for the same reason he regards Illustrador’s win in 1990 as one of his best July commentaries. He also recalls that in 2000 he correctly called El Picha the winner, despite the judges taking close to ten minutes to announce the result,  while in 2008 he didn’t attempt to split the dead-heaters Pocket Power and Dancer’s Daughter.

His least memorable July was 1989, won by Right Prerogative, when heavy overnight rain forced the scrapping of the earlier races. The July was the first race run and the on course atmosphere was affected.

Peters arrived in Durban in 1982 to be assistant commentator to Trevor Denman, having earlier been junior commentator to Peter Duffield and Wolfie and Francois Wolfaardt in Johannesburg. He made his debut as a fifteen-year-old, when becoming the first to broadcast on radio from the old Bloemfontein track. However, he was actually quite an old hand by then. In his primary school days he stood on the bonnet of his father’s car outside the old Newmarket racecourse in Alberton and commentated through his binoculars. As a thirteen-year-old he was granted permission by Turffontein manager Sandy Christie to sit upstairs at Turffontein and commentate into a tape recorder. It was on one such day that he had his best ever lesson, from the great Australian commentator Bill Collins who had come over to commentate on the Holiday Inns, and he still carries the latter’s many points of advice with him today.

Peters’s attitude was influenced by Collins, Trevor Denman and SABC sports presenter Kim Shippey, whom he regards as the most professional of media personalities.

However, he remains humble despite being on the verge of breaking the legendary Ernie Duffield’s record of 29 July commentaries and concludes by saying, “Painting a picture is the most important duty of a commentator. Raising your voice doesn’t mean you have backed the winner, it means you are enthusiastic and love the game.”