How I won the July and survived the objection – Stuart Randolph

“I broke the gates well and so I was able to keep in contention, and I had the favourite in front of me. Everything worked out beautifully and I hit the front going through the 300m.

“The horse on my outside (Punta Arenas) then ran on to mine. The first bump wasn’t much but the second time he gave me a nudge in the hindquarters and my horse became a bit unbalanced. I had to gather him up and he fought to the line. I was never in any doubt about the outcome of the objection.”

And how Ian Sturgeon saw it

“I got to the 200m, went for my run on the outside rail but it got tight. I went towards Power King but, if you look at the slow motion, you will see that I didn’t touch him. However my horse lost his momentum and it took him about 100m to regain it.

“Then, at around the 100m, Power King bumped me and got unbalanced. I thought it was a gallant effort on my horse’s part. He gave his all.”

Sturgeon objected to the winner “on the grounds of interference in the latter stages.” The stipes deliberated for 15 minutes before over-ruling the objection and confirming the original result.

The film shown to the media demonstrated how Punta Arenas moved in on Power King, bumping the latter’s quarters. Power King’s off-hind foot slipped with the impact and he swerved in sharply on Punta Arenas.

What other jockeys said:

Sean Cormack (fourth on 9-2 top weight Futura): “I would like to have had him closer early on but he was slow to get going. But it was a phenomenal run under 60k.”

Anton Marcus (fifth on 7-2 favourite Legal Eagle): “I was slightly impeded in the straight and I felt I didn’t have enough horse under me to avoid it. But it was a good run and I have no complaints.”

Anthony Delpech (ninth on 11-2 chance Majmu): “She didn’t run any kind of race.”

Bernard Fayd’Herbe (16^th on 11-2 chance Wylie Hall): “I had a beautiful run until going through the 700m when he faltered. From then on he was a different horse and I expect something will show up.”

Chad Schofield (eighth on 33-1 shot The Conglomerate): “I was unlucky. I got interfered with quite badly just after we straightened.”

By Michael Clower

Picture: Nkosi Hlophe

The Quartet was the star on a day turnovers went through the roof.

Overall turnovers at Greyville’s Vodacom Durban July meeting on Saturday were up 10.62% but as far as the Durban July itself was concerned, the increase from last year was an outstanding 27.68%.

While the Pick 6 was marginally down and did not exceed the expected R12 million it appears the reason for that was the overwhelming support for the Quartet, which was the big winner on Durban July day. There was a R1-million added to kick start the pool but even taking that amount off, the pool was up almost 35% from last year’s figure of R10,655,842 to some 16.2 million.

The Quartet of Power King, Punta Arenas, Tellina and Futura paid R82,066 to 197.40 winners.

Also receiving a major boost was the Place pool, which increased by almost 34%. However, that was more expected as Vee Moodley, Executive Director: Sports betting for TAB points out. “This year we were back to 18 horses in the July whereas last year we had only 16. We also paid out six places this time against the five places last time.

“The Quartet was way higher than we predicted and in fact, is the highest Exotic pool ever offered by TAB,” said Moodley.

“This year was quite an eye opener and I have some exciting new ideas for next year’s race.”

The Win pool also showed a decent increase of 22.8% but again that can be put down to the increased number of runners.

A capacity crowd of 55 000 held their collective breaths once again as the objection hooter sounded across Greyville Racecourse for the second consecutive year. It’s a race that every year throws up its fair share of drama and yesterday’s Vodacom Durban July was not different. The dreaded hooter sounded shortly after the Dean Kannemeyer-trained Power King (22-1) had roared to victory ahead of Punta Arenas (28-1), Tellina (25-1) with the closest of the fancied runners Futura (9-2) in fourth place. The quartet, with a pool of over R14 million, paid R82 000.

Power King (Nkosi Hlophe)

With a wall of horses across the track as the field headed over the subway it was still anyone’s race with most of the field still in contention. However, Randolph threaded Power King through a gap up the centre and set sail for home. But once through the gap Power King shifted outwards hampering a number of horses including favourite Legal Eagle. Randolph managed to straighten his mount as fellow outsider Punta Arenas loomed up on the stand side. The two came together at about the 100 m mark and initial views were that Power King had interfered with Punta Arenas.

Jockey Ian Sturgeon was quickly into the steward’s room to view the patrol film and decided to lodge an objection on the grounds of interference in the later stages. However, a view of the head-on showed Power King holding a straight course and it was indeed Punta Arenas who shifted out bumping the winner.

Once hearing all the evidence and viewing the head-on video footage the stipendiary stewards quickly over ruled the objection.

“Anton opened a gap and I got a clear split up the middle. I managed to straighten the horse up for the line, when Ian’s (Sturgeon) horse ran into me and turned my back end sideways. My horse was much more inconvenienced than his.”

Coming out of the steward’s room the two jockeys shook hands.

This was Kannemeyer’s third July victory after Dynasty and Eyeofthetiger and Stuart Randolph’s first. Power King is owned by Lady Christine Laidlaw’s Khaya Stables.

Kannemeyer said he had been concerned but the right decision had been made. “When you win this race it’s always the perfect ride,” he quipped. “We are very happy and the gods were very kind.”

“This was Lady Laidlaw’s first ever visit to Durban and Greyville and it was a great way to introduce her.”

Post-race and a now composed Lady Laidlaw said, “I calmed myself down first and looked at the film and my friend said the other rider had made the mistake. But my boy outdid them all.”

“My heart did sink when I heard the hooter,” said Randolph. “But after I looked at the head-on I knew I was safe. The other horse bumped me twice.”

An emotional Stan Elley, who retires from training after 40 years at the end of the month, was bitterly disappointed but said it had been a fair decision. “I have no complaints. If you had offered me second place at 6 o’clock this morning I would have taken it with both hands.”

Geoff Woodruff expressed similar sentiments about third-placed Tellina. “If you had offered me third yesterday I would have taken it. It also showed that he deserved his place in the field. This was his ninth placing in group races.”

By Andrew Harrison