Most French Navy fans would have been thrilled to see the strapping Sean Tarry-trained horse land a seemingly plum draw of four for the Vodacom Durban July, but jockey Weichong Marwing had in fact been hoping for a wide draw.

Weichong Marwing

A wider draw would have given Marwing more options.

He explained in a slow paced race it was sometimes easier to find a position from a wide draw. A lot of the wider drawn horses will be attempting to get to the front down the back straight and should be able to achieve this in a slow paced race. Once they are ahead they are able to move inward towards the rail. They can then relax and wait for the next wave of wider drawn horses to come around them. Thereby, in a slow paced race, a widely drawn horse could possibly find itself in a handy position with cover.

Meanwhile, with each horse which has come around the field to the front, the well drawn horses will have been shuffled backwards. Of course the well drawn horses can prevent all of this from happening by holding their positions. However, they would need to use up energy to keep the wider horses out, and this is especially the case at Greyville because the back straight is uphill.

French Navy’s problem is his relative lack of gate speed. From a low draw it looks likely he has little option but to sit at the back early and hope for a fast pace. However, from a wide draw Marwing would have been able to drop him out if adjudging the pace to be quick, or send him up there if adjudging it to be slow. As the great jockey Michael “Muis” Roberts once said, the first fifty metres of a race are in fact the most important.

French Navy (Nkosi Hlophe)

Marwing was philosophical. He said the draw was a factor which could not be changed and he would simply have to re-plan his strategy.

In the two renewals of the July to date which have been run on the narrower track, the horse drawn in barrier six crossed the line first, i.e. Wylie Hall and Power King respectively. Draw six this year belongs to the Tarry-trained Samurai Blade.

However, Legislate was awarded the race in the boardroom two years ago at the expense of Wylie Hall and he jumped from draw eleven. If the reserve runners come out, the horse drawn eleven this year will be Rabada. The latter is engaged to run in the KZN Million Mile this Sunday.

The last horse to take in both the Million Mile and the July was Love Struck in 2013 and he finished downfield in both races.

Rabada’s trainer Mike Azzie was forthright and said he believed this horse had had an outstanding July preparation, provided he did not run in the Million Mile on Sunday. However, the decision to run him on Sunday is out of his hands.

By David Thiselton

The final pieces of the Vodacom Durban July jigsaw have been put together as Anton Marcus has been declared to ride the Joey Ramsden-trained St. Tropez, Piere Strydom has been declared to ride the Ramsden-trained The Conglomerate, MJ Byleveld has been declared to ride the Mike Azzie-trained Rabada, Andrew Fortune has been declared to ride the Sean Tarry-trained Samurai Blade, S’Manga Khumalo has been declared to ride the first reserve, the Tarry-trained Trophy Wife, and Craig Zackey has been declared to ride the Duncan Howells-trained Saratoga Dancer.

David Thiselton

Anthony Delpech, hoping that Bela-Bela can give him a fifth Vodacom Durban July victory, believes that the grey filly has a big chance on Saturday week.

The former champion said yesterday: “I always had a question mark in my mind about whether she would stay because she has so much speed and then she won the Woolavington. I said then to Justin Snaith ‘If you are going to run the filly in the July I am going to ride her.’”

Immediately after the Woolavington Delpech said that his 2011 July winner Igugu was the best filly he had ever ridden but that Bela-Bela could be the second best. He confirmed that view yesterday, adding: “She is very good, really special.”

Michael Clower

Bela-Bela now heads the market for Saturday week’s Vodacom Durban July following Anthony Delpech’s shock decision to jump ship and get off the favourite Black Arthur in order to ride his stable companion.

World Sports Betting has cut the Woolavington winner from 15-2 to 11-2 clear favourite and Betting World has her 5-1 joint favourite with Black Arthur while Marinaresco comes next on 6-1 with French Navy a 13-2 chance.

Delpech, bidding for his fifth July win, has not got where he is today by picking the wrong one but Justin Snaith is not entirely convinced that the record-breaking former champion has made the right move.

He said: “Personally I think it’s too close to call. The weights are not in Bela-Bela’s favour and she only gets a kilo from the colts.

“But Anthony says that Bela-Bela has given him an unbelievable feel and he wants to stick with her regardless of the weights.”

When he heard that Mike Azzie had cancelled Dougie Whyte’s booking for Abashiri, and reinstated the gelding’s Triple Crown-winning partner Karl Zechner, Justin’s brother Jonathan moved quickly to secure the 13-time Hong Kong champion for Black Arthur even though Whyte will be riding at Sha Tin the night before and will not arrive in Durban until mid-morning.

Azzie, speaking at Greyville last Friday evening, explained: “We are going for the July with Abashiri and we are going to do our best to try and win it but we didn’t feel we needed the pressure of having to wait in case he doesn’t make his connecting flight. Adriaan van Vuuren has had a bit of a tense week with the press having a go at him about jocking off Dougie but it was a joint decision and this is the reason we took it.”

The Snaith camp, though, reckon the flight risk is worth taking and Justin said: “We had an opportunity to have a renowned international champion and I felt we should take it. Having him brings an extra spice to the race and I am very grateful to Alec and Gillian Foster (Black Arthur’s owner-breeders) for allowing this to happen. Without them it wouldn’t have been possible and I’m not worried about the flights – unless there is some world problem he should get to Durban on time.”

Snaith is bidding for a third July win following dead-heater Dancer’s Daughter in 2008 and the promoted Legislate two years ago (he jokes that he is the only trainer in the history of the race to have won it twice without having a horse passing the post with its head in front!) and he can hardly wait for the big day.

He said: “We have a serious chance and we have three runners – hopefully four with Dynamic – who are all doing well. We just have to get through the draws and the July gallops which are always a worry. But we are very excited and I wouldn’t swap the position I’m in with anyone.”

The final field and draws will be announced tomorrow and the July gallops are on Thursday.

Michael Clower

Karl Zechner is back aboard his SA Triple Crown-winning partner Abashiri after Hong Kong-based superstar Dougie Whyte had originally been declared for the ride.

Meanwhile, Abashiri has been allotted the heaviest weight a three-year-old has ever been asked to carry in the big race, 59kg, after the weights were dragged up 2,5kg across the board due to the scratching of Legal Eagle.

Trainer Mike Azzie said, “Dougie said initially he would be able to fly in on the Monday before the race, but the Hong Kong Jockey Club would not release him and he was then going to be able to fly out on the Thursday. However, due to some jockey suspensions he was then required to ride in Hong Kong on the Friday, meaning he would fly out that evening and then catch a connecting flight to Durban on the morning of the July. He has done this sort of thing before and when he told me the jet lag would not affect him I believed him. However, a flight delay anywhere along the line would mean we could end up without a jockey. We have enough pressure on us already to have to add more by running that risk. I am sorry for Dougie, but Karl will be based in Durban for the next two-and-a-half weeks, so will be with the horse every day until the race.”

Abashiri (Liesl King)

Zechner has partnered Abashiri five times for five victories, including all three legs of the coveted SA Triple Crown. He copped criticism from some quarters for his ride in the last leg, the SA Derby, despite getting the job done and in some people’s opinions riding a fine race.

Abashiri’s relative weight will not be affected by the dragging up of the weights as all horses’ weights will be going up by 2,5kg and the bottom weight will now be 54,5kg.

He will in fact be the only three-year-old in the field who is not under sufferance.

However, Azzie was still concerned about him having to carry the welter burden of 59kg and pointed to horses like Jackson, whom he said was not the same horse after carrying 56kg in the race, while the great Horse Chestnut was scratched when asked to carry too much weight.

Azzie admitted “If I owned Abashiri I would not be running him. I am not saying he can’t win the race, we are going to have him fit and well enough, but he has his whole career ahead of him and personally I would have waited for him to strengthen and furnish and bring him back here as a four-year-old.”

However, he added it was owner Adriaan Van Vuuren’s life-long dream to win the July.

Van Vuuren, who dotes on all of his horses, has shown himself to be one of South African racing’s most passionate owners and it is understandable he doesn’t want to miss the opportunity of experiencing his beloved Abashiri  running in the country’s premier horseracing event.

David Thiselton

Many jockeys will have breathed a sigh of relief when the worst kept secret in racing was confirmed early yesterday morning with the news that Legal Eagle was scratched from the Vodacom Durban July. His scratching means that all the weights will be increased by 2,5kg.

Sean Tarry had indicated as early as April, after Legal Eagle had won the Premier’s Champions Challenge, that the July was not on the gelding’s agenda. But Tarry played a smart tactical game by leaving Legal Eagle in the mix until after the weights had been published on Tuesday and it was only a matter of when he played his trump card.

If Tarry had scratched Legal Eagle before publication of the weights his other runner, French Navy, would have been allotted top weight of 60kg but all the three-year-olds, barring Abashiri would have been set to carry 53kg.

By leaving Legal Eagle in until after publication of the weights, French Navy still goes up to 60kg but the three-year-olds copped another 2,5kg and this means that all of the three-year-old males with the exception of Abashiri will carry 55,5kg including ruling favourite Black Arthur giving those runners who match their handicap rating a big advantage over their younger rivals.

The bottom weight horses will carry 54,5kg and this includes three-year-old filly Bela-Bela.

However, even though the weights have been bumped up, of the three-year-olds only Abashiri is not under sufferance.

What the increase in weights does do is open the field for the jockeys as most of the senior riders were unlikely to make 53kg.

St Tropez (Nkosi Hlophe)

One jockey who will be particularly relieved is Anton Marcus although he was likely privy to what was on the cards. With Legal Eagle out and the weights increased, he now has the option on six Markus and Ingrid Jooste owned horses in Rabada, Deo Juvente, The Conglomerate, Disco Al, St Tropez and Rainy Day Blues, not all certain to get a run however, but St Tropez his most likely choice.

Also scratched yesterday were the Tarry-trained Prospect Strike and Jubilee Line, leaving Mike de Kock in the unfamiliar position of having only a single entry, namely the filly The Centenary, whose chances of making the July will hang on her winning the G3 Gold Circle Oaks at Scottsville on Sunday and even that may not be enough.

With bookmakers probably already having already factored in the likely withdrawal of Legal Eagle, there were only marginal changes to the betting with Black Arthur shortening half-a-point to 7-2 and French Navy steady at 7-1.

Latest ante-post betting for the R4.5million Gr1 Vodacom Durban July to be run at Greyville on Saturday, July 2:

7-2 Black Arthur, 6-1 Marinaresco, 7-1 French Navy, 15-2 Bela-Bela, 11-1 Abashiri, It’s My Turn, 13-1 Solid Speed, St Tropez, 14-1 Mambo Mime, Rabada, 25-1 Deo Juvente, Dynamic, 28-1 Rocketball, Master Sabina, 30-1 Ten Gun Salute, The Conglomerate, Trophy Wife, 35-1 Negroamaro, 50-1 Samurai Blade, 66-1 Balance Sheet, Saratoga Dancer, Judicial, 80-1 New Predator, 100-1 and upwards others.

Andrew Harrison