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 3rd) 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 13th 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
