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Hollywoodbets Durban July Eight On Eighteen, Number 1?
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Yuppies Own July Winners? Why not!
61 KZN Yearling Sale The supplement!
152 Clock The Numbers Time is money
On the cover JP ‘Winx’ van der Merwe on the Hollywoodbets Durban July winner’s podium a year ago. Can he repeat the feat as Oriental Charm bids for the double on Saturday? Candiese Lenferna took the photograph.
Issue: 26/2025
167 Classic O’Brien Lambourn looks special
Well neigh, unstoppable! That’s the word on Justin Snaith’s champion 3yo Eight On Eighteen who looks to be the pivot around which most logical racing fans will build their wagers on what is expected to be a recordbreaking betting day on Saturday.
Trainer Justin Snaith was always cagey about whether his star colt would take his place in the Hollywoodbets Durban July line-up given that he would carry top weight for a three-year-old of 57kg the highest since Abashiri lumped 59kg into 13th place behind The Conglomerate in 2016.
But Snaith and owners Nick Jonsson and Johann Rupert have taken the plunge and Eight On Eighteen will make history should he win and become the first three-year-old in history to win the Gr1 WSB Cape Town Met and the Gr1 Hollywoodbets Durban July in the same year
Eight On Eighteen is also likely to start one of the shortest priced favourites in the 129-year history of the race and his chances were further enhanced when he was drawn 11 in the 18-horse field.
James Crawford has two runners in the race, last year’s winner Oriental Charm who drew pole position and Pomodoro’s Jet who drew 8. It would be an emotional win for James Crawford, who recently took over his father’s string with Brett now plying his trade in Hong Kong.
Stuart Ferrie sends out his first July runner in the hard-knocking Gladatorian. A fast-finishing third behind Dave The King and Oriental Charm in the Gold Challenge, he pulled a wide gate of 16.
Dean Kannemeyer knows what it takes to train a July winner, successful with Dynasty, Eyeofthetiger and Power King and The Real Prince drew gate 5. The big question mark is, will he stay? The usually reserved Kannemeyer says yes.
Royal Victory will have his supporters but Nathan Kotzen’s charge drew deep at 17. However, he is a winner of the Gr1 Betway Summer Cup and the Gr1 Champion Challenge at Turffontein and finished third in the July last year behind Oriental Charm.
Fabian Habib has his first July runner in Confederate.Relatively lightly raced the gelding has won four of his nine starts but has never finishing further back than second.
He won the Gr1 SA Classic beating subsequent Gr1 Champions Challenge winner Fire Attack and will be ridden by two-time South African and
current New Zealand champion jockey Warren Kennedy who has made the trip to ride in the race. He drew gate 14.
Mike de Kock has a stellar record in this race and has joined forces with his son Mathew. They have their first July runner together in the three-year-old and recent Gr3 Jubilee Stakes winner Immediate Edge. He carries bottom weight for a three-yearold male of 53kg and has won four of his six starts to date. He drew alongside Eight On Eighteen in gate 10.
Snaith has two other runners in the race, namely Okavango and the one-time winner Native Ruler. Okavango will be ridden by Andrew Fortune and drew 13 while Tristan Godden will have to navigate Native Ruler from gate 18.
Alec Laird and jockey Calvin Habib pin their hopes on Gr1 Betway Summer Cup winner Atticus Finch who drew favourably in 4.
Andre Nel was first up to do the draw for Selukwe and came out with gate 6. Serino Moodley will be doing the honours on Selukwe.
Alan Greeff will fly the colours for the Eastern Cape with his star performer My Best Shot who has a midfield draw of 9.
Local owner Sid Moodley has his first July runner in Madison Valley and he drew gate 2 for his trainer Frank Robinson. Gavin Lerena is in the saddle and the champion title chaser is red hot!
Rainbow Lorikeet is the only filly in the race and Candice Bass Robinson’s runner drew well in 7 and will have Deigo de Gouveia aboard.
The dreadful disappointment of the scratching of Michael Roberts’ See It Again brings Litigation and Grant van Niekerk into the race.
The race is off at 16h00. Remember there are only 3 places payable on the Tote as it’s a World Pool contest.
EIGHT ON EIGHTEEN, MY BEST SHOT, CONFEDERATE & RAINBOW LORIKEET…
A Sporting Post reader asked the question earlier this week about previous Durban July winners from the Danzig sireline.
For all its speed aptitude, the sireline registered a first July winner when Classic Flag defeated the filly Faralmond in the 1998 renewal of the iconic race. Trained by David Ferraris, the three-year-old set the seal on a grand
sophomore season which earned him both Horse of the Year and Champion Three-yearold colt honours.
Remarkably, he would go on to finish second the following year and fourth as a five-year-old!
Bred by Peter Blythe at the old Clifton Stud near Lothair, he was by Danzig’s son Allied Flag, whose progeny proved extremely versatile. It is safe to say that Classic Flag inherited his staying ability from his dam Summer Classic.
A daughter of dour stamina influence St Cuthbert, she was bred by one of the doyens of South African breeding, Sir Mordaunt Milner and traces to his wonderful taproot mare Fleur, through her daughter Nosegay, who features as Allied Flag’s third dam.
In contrast, Allied Flag’s relative Olympic Flag (she too, shares Nosegay as her third dam), was blessed with bags of speed and won six races up to 1200m including the Gr3 Byerley Turf Plate and Listed KwaZulu-Natal Stakes.
Then again, Classic Flag’s half-sister Joy Of Spring produced the Joey Ramsden-trained stayer Omaha Beach to Allied Flag. Richly endowed with stamina, he twice won the Gr2 Cape Stayers Handicap, the Gr3 Cape Summer Stayers Handicap and ran both second and third in the then Gr1 Canon Gold Cup!
Peter remembers Allied Flag fondly: “I wish I had another like him. He had that Danzig look about him, not big, but powerful, he tended to sire quite a lot of horses which excelled beyond sprint distances.”
Allied Flag passed away before the Blythes moved to KwaZulu-Natal, which left Peter to muse: “I have also wondered what he could have achieved with a better cross-section of mares if he had stood with me in KZN. He was a great character.”
Fast forward to 2014, and what would have been a second July winner for the sireline when
Wylie Hall headed Legislate on the line in a humdinger finish, only to lose the race in the boardroom.
Bred in Australia, his sire Redoute’s Choice is by Danzig’s breed-shaping son Danehill.
The sireline also came close in 2007 when National Emblem’s son Buy And Sell went down by a neck to the Oppenheimer homebred Hunting Tower, going one better than his sire, who had run third to Teal in 1995.
A triple Gr1 winner up to 2000m, National Emblem was by the diminutive Danzig horse
National Assembly out of a half-sister to none other than the freakish Mazarin, who claimed the 1971 July in runaway fashion.
This year, we may just witness another Danzigline runner claiming the country’s premier race in the shape of standout three-year-old Eight On Eighteen, arguably the shortest-priced favourite since the great Sea Cottage. He is a son of much-missed Lancaster Bomber, who in turn, is by Danzig’s son War Front.
Adding extra firepower is another War Front son, the accomplished Fire Away, who will field a two-pronged July attack with Gr1 SA Classic hero Confederate and Port Elizabeth star My Best Shot.
Rounding out the Danzig clan’s July challenge is a filly, Candice BassRobinson’s Rainbow Lorikeet, a daughter of Querari, who in turn is by Danzig’s speedy grandson Oasis Dream.
Twice champion juvenile sire, Querari is better known for his sharp, precocious progeny, yet Rainbow Lorikeet has won up to 2000m, in addition to which her dam Nightingale, by classic sire Silvano, finished a joint-fourth in a tight, blanket finish to the 2017 July won by paternal half-brother Marinaresco. He too, was trained by Candice Bass-Robinson.
Granted, it has been a long time between drinks, but this year it would come as no surprise to see the Danzig sire line prevail once again in the country’s premier race.
For all its speed aptitude, the sireline registered a first July winner when Classic Flag defeated the filly Faralmond in the 1998 renewal of the iconic race
Stalwart racecallers, father-and-son duo Craig and Sheldon Peters will once again paint the picture at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Saturday.
Craig Peters is the most experienced Durban July commentator of all time and is in fact the most experienced horseracing commentator in South African history.
The 2025 Hollywoodbets Durban July will be his 39 th, which can be compared to Ernie Duffield’s 29 Julys. Craig has called over 25 000 races in South Africa, also a record.
In third place on the July list is Craig’s son Sheldon, who already has 23 July commentaries under the belt.
Turf Talk reported recently that on July day Sheldon is the on-course commentator and is also on the 4Racing, Gallop TV and DSTV feeds, while Craig is on the SABC feed.
Craig and Sheldon are passionate about the sport and have a wealth of memories, particularly about the country’s greatest race. Craig recalled his first memory of the July.
“My first recollection was back in the 1960’s with Sea Cottage when he got shot three weeks before the July. I was about six or seven years old at the time and living in Mayfair, Johannesburg with my parents. We used to listen to the July commentary by Ernie Duffield on the radio and it was a sad day in 1966 when he ran fourth to Java Head - with the bullet still lodged in the soft flesh of his hindquarter. I remember shedding a lot of tears that day because he was such a great horse.”
Craig recalled that they used to call him the immortal Sea Cottage.
“Then the next year he dead-heated with Jollify giving him 27 pounds. We listened to the commentary and it was extremely exciting, but Ernie Duffield gave the race to Jollify. He said, “I think Jollify might just have held on!” So we didn’t know and then Duffield had to cross back to the studio because the judges took a while. It was only sometime later on Pat Carr’s Forces Favourites programme that we heard it was a dead-heat and I was absolutely elated. We saw the
photo in the Stop Press and about two weeks later we watched the African Mirror footage of the race at the Drive-In. I remember also being at Sea Cottage’s last ever race, the Cutty Sark at Gosforth Park, which attracted a massive crowd. I watched by standing on the bonnet of my father’s car.”
Craig’s commentary career started in Johannesburg.
“I never thought it would happen and it was then a dream come true when I moved back to Durban in 1982 which gave me the
opportunity to commentate on the July. My first July commentary was when Devon Air won in 1984, Terrance Millard and Felix Coetzee, it was an unbelievable experience. But then the great calls I remember are Pocket Power and Dancer’s Daughter deadheating (2008) and I also enjoyed Flaming Rock (1991) coming from the absolute clouds and getting up on the last jump. But I think one of my best July commmentaries was Illustrador (1990). I called it on course and the crowds went berserk with the raise of my voice tone at the top of the straight. In the July the crowd are with you and they hang on to every single word you say.”
Most of the crowd’s money would have been on Illustrador, the Terrance Millard-trained favourite, and few who were there will ever forget Craig’s words just after they had turned for home. He was rattling through the field in a rising tone as they fanned off the false rail when suddenly his tone changed and his voice echoed around the course, “… BUT … ILLUSTRADOR!!!”
relied on the commentaries and Craig was a favourite due to the excitement he was able to generate with his changes of tone. His style had the same effect on the oncourse punters. As he never got it wrong when emphasising a horse’s name and seldom got a photo finish wrong he acquired the nickname, ‘Eagle Eye’.
Illustrador duly stormed into the lead and with a delirious crowd roaring him home he won by 1,30 lengths from his two stablemates Olympic Duel and Jungle Warrior.
Craig sees a bright future for the Hollywoodbets Durban July and KZN racing.
“It’s great now that Hollywood have taken over the sponsorship. It’s going from strength to strength and as you can see every year there is a big improvement and the crowds are with it. It’s absolutely phenomenal and I’m really enjoying it.”
In those days when there was no video footage in the off course ‘rooms’, punters
An indication of how good a commentator Sheldon Peters is can be gleaned from his first July in 2002. He was the youngest to ever call the great race, being in his early twenties, and there was only 0,4 lengths separating the first six home.
However, his voice never faltered and he picked out the winner Ipi Tombe for special emphasis in the closing stages.
It is hard to fathom how a commentator handles such situations but on getting that one right Sheldon said, “Born and bred!”
He added, “The adrenaline pumps so much, the nerves start to settle, but once the gates open you basically just fire away.”
He said about his first July recollection: “I was about ten or eleven when Flaming Rock won (1991), it was my first taste of the July, and then the first time I was on course was
when Surfing Home won (1994) but lost on AN objection … Space Walk was declared the winner. My best July was when Dynasty won (2003).”
He said about the experience of his first July commentary: “It was a dream in a million. Obviously as a commentator you want to call the biggest race in the country, and one of the biggest races in the world, and with the crowd on the course and everything, it’s just a race of a lifetime.”
He added: “Dynasty (2003) and Eyeofthetiger (2006) were my favourite calls. Both horses were owned by Fieldspring Racing and trained by Dean Kannemeyer.”
One of his most famous calls was when Do It Again became the sixth horse in July history to win the big race twice, and the fifth to do it twice in succession.
As the big horse approached the line Sheldon called, with impeccable timing, “… and he will DO IT AGAIN!!!”
Those words are also now part of July folklore.
The Peters are the voices of the Durban July and it seems the only person who could possibly ever break Craig’s record is Sheldon.
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Three decades in the game, and Alan Greeff is still climbing. The multiple Eastern Cape champion trainer is celebrating his 30th year as a licensed conditioner, and while his trophy cabinet tells a story of relentless success, Alan himself remains as unassuming as the day he saddled his first winner.
Alan has built a powerhouse stable in the former Port Elizabeth, combining the renowned horsemanship inherited from his father, Stanley Greeff, with a modern edge. Now, after a
lifetime of consistent excellence, he’s poised to scale a new peak: his very first runner in the 2025 Gr1 Hollywoodbets Durban July.
This year, Alan steps onto South Africa’s biggest stage with three-year-old My Best Shot, a striking chestnut gelding whose name hints at the ambition behind his entry. He has earned his place in the ‘July’ line-up with two Listed wins, though Alan is keeping expectations measured. “He’s a lovely horse,” he says. “It’s a handicap and he’s at the bottom end of the scale, so you never know. It’s a race everyone
wants to win. I think he’ll finish in the first half of the field, and we’ll be happy if he does.”
Twenty-one years have passed since an Eastern Cape challenger last made the July field. That was Gavin Smith’s Shoes Of Silver, who was beaten six lengths into 11th place by Greys Inn. Alan commented: “I had a talented horse called Shining Coast who was good
enough to run in the big race, but he injured a tendon. Shining Coast won the 2002 East Cape Derby at Fairview beating Red Badge, who went on to run third and right on the heels of Dynasty in the 2003 Durban July.”
Alan has made his presence felt in other races on July day before, saddling Cereus to third in the 2001 Gold Vase and Tatler into second in the Grade 2 Golden Slipper. This year, twoyear-old filly Anotherdanceforme will have a crack at the Slipper herself, the stable’s only other runner on Saturday, 5 July.
Alan’s current juvenile stars, the unbeaten Direct Hit, and the promising Golden Palm, have had standout campaigns, with races elsewhere mapped out for them.
Direct Hit, the Equus Champion Two-Year-Old Filly-elect, remains unbeaten and, in Greeff’s eyes, stands shoulder to shoulder with some of the best horses he’s trained — among them the mentioned Tatler and Shining Coast.
But when asked about the best horse he’s ever been involved with, Alan casts his mind back to
the early 1990s, when he was assistant trainer to Tony Millard. “I worked with Empress Club, and she was by far the best racehorse I’ve ever been associated with. In my view, she’s the greatest we’ve ever seen in South Africa.”
When Alan left school in 1989, he completed his military service at the SADF’s Mounted Training Division (Berede), a fitting foundation for his future in horsemanship.
From there, his father Stanley sent him to gain experience under two of the country’s finest: first Terrance Millard, then Tony Millard. It was a grounding few South African trainers can lay claim to. As Stanley put it in a 2009 interview:
“If Alan joined me, he would’ve been the ‘boss’s son’, and I didn’t want that. He entered a top racing yard where he worked at the side of a master horseman. He also learnt how to take orders! I polished him off later on, before I retired.”
Stanley’s ‘polishing off’ of Alan would have included the very best of what he’d gained in a decorated career that began in 1952, shaped early on by the legendary Syd Garrett.
“My foundations were laid by Syd Garrett. There will never be another trainer like him,” Stanley said in 2009. “He was simply the best and being my neighbour in my early years at Milnerton, I made use of every opportunity to
ask him whatever I wanted to know. He was a wonderful human being as much as he was the horseman of horsemen. He never turned down a question or a request, he never looked down on anyone, no matter who you were. I watched him every day working in his yard with his horses. Syd Laird was his assistant. I soaked it up and learnt, made mental notes of things I haven’t ever forgotten.”
Stanley won 27 Trainer’s Titles in Port Elizabeth and held the singular honour of being Champion Trainer in two centres in one season, Port Elizabeth and Bloemfontein, in 1991. He trained an estimated 2,500 career winners, a number Alan (currently approaching 3,500 winners) has long surpassed.
Despite the unparalleled depth of his grounding, Alan remains modest about his own depth of knowledge and the remarkable career it’s built. “I’m a workaholic,” he admits. “I’ve always lived by the policy that hard work never killed anyone. It’s the only thing I know. Not many people can say they do what they love. I also have an experienced and dedicated team behind me, including jockeys Kendall Minnie and Charles Ndlovu, Amos Mtengwana, Jackson Tsewu and Thomas Melani, who do much of the hard work behind the scenes.”
If there is a secret to managing a large stable so successfully, Alan quips, it might just be this: “A happy wife!” Glenifer has been at his side — and at the stables — every morning for
as long as he can remember. She handles the owners, the logistics, and all the little things that matter. Their daughter Cailin is also a daily presence in the family business, helping her mom and keeping the stable’s social media ticking over. Justine, their second daughter, is a schoolteacher by profession, though Alan hints she may have the strongest natural feel for training among his children. Their son Nicholas is the Head Ranger at Elephant Plains Game Lodge in Sabi. He’s an animal lover through and through, who also takes breathtaking wildlife photographs (check out nicholas_greeff8 on Instagram).
Alan’s Halo Stables carries special meaning for the Greeff family. It honours the filly Halo,
who became Stanley Greeff’s 100th winner of the 1980 season, a campaign in which he bettered Terrance Millard’s South African record of 90 winners and pushed the new benchmark to 105.
In the 2018/19 season, Alan saddled 177 winners, an Eastern Cape record that still stands. Though with a month left in the 2024/25 season and already nudging the 160-winner mark and an all-time best second position on the National log, he may well rewrite his own history.
However, it’s never been about statistics for Alan Greeff. He doesn’t keep track of championships won or stakes racked up and
says that ‘staying humble’ and looking after his stable’s incredible group of patrons are all that truly matter. At 53, he remains what he’s always been — a horseman at heart, a quiet achiever, and a pillar of Eastern Cape racing. The journey hasn’t changed him, only deepened the values he started with: hard work, humility, and respect for the thoroughbred. And while the Durban July may be his next big step, for Alan, the real victory is waking up each morning to do what he loves, surrounded by family, history, horses, and the kind of quiet excellence that speaks louder than any headline.
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The Hollywoodbets Durban July is literally a race for everybody – including yuppies! When Candice Bass-Robinson’s Querari filly Rainbow Lorikeet was included in the final field of 18 for the 129th renewal of the great race, a certain 24 year old self-confessed yuppie almost collapsed at what he was hearing.
“I was getting dressed for races at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth. The Gallop TV MC Graeme Hawkins said Rainbow Lorikeet is in.
My Mom started filming my antics as I went crazy. I wasn’t properly attired and the clip is probably not going to pass civility muster for Sporting Post publication,” enthused the Cape
Town-born professional Zach Bloch, who is doing his accounting articles with a leading international audit firm in London.
The term ‘yuppie’, short for ‘young urban professional’ or ‘young upwardly-mobile professional’, was coined in the early 1980’s
for a young professional person. Zach is the nominee of the Yuppie Syndicate whose fluorescent pink and bright yellow silks are set to be carried by the Wilgerbosdrift & Mauritzfontein Stud-bred Querari 4yo Rainbow Lorikeet who squeaked – Zach won’t like that reference - into the top 18 for the spectacular on 5 July.
Chatting to the Sporting Post, a breathlessly excited Zach confirmed that he was already in Cape Town after flying out of London over the weekend, when he heard the news last Tuesday.
So was he confident of Rainbow Lorikeet getting in?
“Positive thinking is key! But this is my regular annual two weeks in Cape Town. I love South Africa and couldn’t wait to get back home. I wrote a 6 hours 45 minutes long mock Board Exam in London with the Hollywoodbets Durban July replaying in the back of my mind on Saturday and ran out of there to jump on a plane,” explained the man who has been happily sick for the game since the age of 5.
of the opposition, Zach doesn’t mind where Rainbow Lorikeet finishes. It’s having a runner in the Hollywoodbets Durban July that means everything to him and his syndicate pals.
“If I had a choice on not being at Hollywoodbets Greyville and her winning, as opposed to being there and her running last, I’d go for the latter. Just to be an owner in that beautiful new-look parade ring on an iconic day on the international racing calendar is a massive privilege and what a buzz it’s going to be!” says Zach as he reflects how the Yuppie Syndicate whatsapp group has gone ‘mad’ since the announcement.
The Yuppie Syndicate was initiated by Zach to bring young people together. He wanted individuals, who in five or ten years time could be the kind of folk able to afford to buy proper racehorses.
While he has every respect for the favourite Eight On Eighteen, and every one of the rest
With Zach passionately directing operations, the syndicate includes Cameron Braun, Raphael Rubin, Shannon Stokes, Nicholas Viljoen, Ryan Murray (who has never seen Rainbow Lorikeet run and was booking his flight from London as we went to print), Cailyn Shelby, Maxine Gray and Alyssa Viljoen.
“We are a diverse group comprising students, accountants, lawyers, wealth managers, and then also people of traditionally less ‘staid’ occupations - we have a singer and a sound engineer too!” explains Zach as he says that he really believes that racing doesn’t have a future without bringing in the twentysomethings.
“They are, after all, the next generation. The demographics were never an issue in the days when my Dad and guys like yourself were introduced to the game via your family, ten cent jackpots, and the Cape Hunt & Polo Club racemeetings in your school holidays. It was the only game in town. Today the sport is competing for Millennial and Generation Zee attention with a host of other distractions – but I firmly believe it remains a game that offers plenty,” enthuses Zach.
Trainer Candice Bass-Robinson, no longer a twentysomething herself, but a Durban July winner in her own right, courtesy of Marinaresco’s victory in 2017, said that her charge had ‘a money chance’ off her galloping weight. Interestingly, Rainbow Lorikeet’s Silvano dam Nightingale was Candice’s first ever Grade 1 winner, and ran fourth the year Marinaresco won.
Rainbow Lorikeet, who drew 7 and will be ridden by Diego de Gouveia, is the only filly in the 2025 line-up. The fairer sex are definitely not without a shout, with the girls having won it this century in 2022 (Sparkling Water), 2011 (Igugu) and 2008 (Dancer’s Daughter dead heated with Pocket Power).
The leased daughter of Querari has given the Yuppie Syndicate a dream ride. Zach was introduced to breeder Mary Slack through Jehan Malherbe, and asked if the syndicate could lease a filly.
“That way there was no capex outlay on the part of the syndicate members. Mrs Slack was amazing. She loved the idea and so arrived the beautifully-bred Rainbow Lorikeet. She happened to also be bred on the QuerariSilvano cross that has worked so well.”
With racing in his blood - Zach’s Grandparents were the Schonwalds, who ran a powerful breeding operation in the Cape, standing the likes of French Tutor and Rainbow Dream and Dad Jonathan is a leading owner – there probably won’t be a louder voice amongst the 45 000 fans and visitors present at the Theatre Of Champions when the Hollywoodbets Durban July class of 2025 storm into the final 200m shortly after 16h00 on Saturday. Win, lose or draw, the Yuppie Syndicate will be winners.
Internationally acknowledged as Africa’s Greatest Horseracing Event, the Hollywoodbets Durban July has been run without interruption every year since Saturday, July 17, 1897 when Campanajo crossed the line first in the Durban Turf Club Handicap over 1600m on the Western Vlei at Hollywoodbets Greyville Racecourse.
About 3 000 people attended the first meeting and never dreamt that in years to come it would grow to a point where a crowd of 50 000 plus was the norm. On one occasion the gates had to be closed for security reasons after full capacity had been reached.
And, just as the ladies at that very first meeting were dressed up in their finest outfits, Hollywoodbets Durban July day for the last few decades has become the leading fashion and entertainment event of the year in the country with visitors and media from overseas making special trips to Durban to enjoy the “July experience” or report on the greatest racing event on the African continent.
While it is a day of excitement, fashion and entertainment, it is all about the finest thoroughbreds in the country coming together for the greatest challenge of their careers.
For the horses, the jockeys, the trainers, the owners and the grooms, it is the pinnacle of their racing experience just to be involved in the race and the debate about which of the many entries can lift the ultimate prize begins when the first entries are received with the intensity of the debate growing steadily to fever pitch as the big day approaches.
Many great thoroughbreds have competed over the years from many of the most famous stables and ridden by the finest jockeys of their generation.
The most famous of the July’s historic winners is no doubt the great Sea Cottage. Few will not remember, or have not heard, the story of the mighty Sea Cottage who fell prey to a sniper’s bullet on his way to an early morning training session just a few weeks ahead of the 1966 July. With the bullet lodged in his hind quarter, Sea Cottage ran the race of his life to finish fourth behind winning stable mate Java Head. A year later Sea Cottage came back with an uninterrupted prep to dead-heat with Jollify, to whom he was conceding an astonishing 12 kgs.
Only six horses have ever won the July twice, the most recent being the Justin Snaith-trained and aptly named Do It Again in 2018 & 2019.
Can Oriental Charm join that illustrious band on Saturday?
Geoff Woodruff inmate, El Picha, became the first horse in 50 years to achieve the double when winning in 1999 & 2000. The very talented London News skated home in the 100th running of the July, before embarking on an ambitious International campaign which saw Alec Laird’s charge capture the QE 11 Cup at Shatin Racecourse in Hong Kong the following year.
Fillies and Mares have found the winners’ enclosure on just 14 occasions over the 128-year history of the race. This century, the fairer sex have been successfully represented by Ipi Tombe (2002), Dancer’s Daughter (2008), Igugu (2011) and Sparkling Water (2022)
The argument as to which July winner deserves the mantle of the Greatest of all Time continues to rage amongst racing fans, but few would deny that Sea Cottage ranks right up there with the best of them.
Anton Marcus leads the way as far as the jockeys are concerned with five victories to his name.
In recent years trainers Mike de Kock and Justin Snaith have each won the ‘July’ on five occasions and both are well set up to perhaps equal, or even surpass, the legendary Syd Laird’s record of seven July winners. In his day Terrance Millard fell one short of Laird’s mark.
Bertie Hayden and Felix Coetzee rode three winners each while Richard Fourie, who rides Hot favourite Eight On Eighteen on Saturday, also has three winners to his name.
Cape-based jockey Grant van Niekerk celebrated his 34th birthday on Monday in what has been a trying season and would enjoy nothing more than to ride a Hollywoodbets Durban July winner on Saturday.
Grant has been booked on Sean Tarry’s first reserve Litigation in Saturday’s 129th renewal of the Hollywoodbets Durban July and after the unfortunate scratching of See It Again on Tuesday morning, Litigation becomes a runner. Grant says he would not like to benefit by somebody else’s disappointment of having their horse scratched but he will take the
chance with both hands. He has two other rides on the day for the Azzies.
The enigmatically talented rider has three second places to his credit in the big race dating back to 2012, when as a young apprentice, he came within a heartbeat of glory on Tyrone Zackey’s Smanjemanje,
only beaten by the superior experience of Piere Strydom on Pomodoro.
Four years later Grant was again in the forgettable second box, and on the receiving end of Strydom’s genius, when The Conglomerate overcame a wide draw to hold off a fast-finishing Marinaresco, who would go on to win the 2200m contest a year later under Bernard Fayd’herbe.
In 2021 the again frustrated Van Niekerk had to eat runner-up humble pie again when the gutsy Linebacker was beaten by popular Kommetdieding, in the hands of current champion title chaser, Gavin Lerena.
Grant has only ridden a single winner in the three months since 26 March this year – the day at Hollywoodbets Durbanville that largely derailed his season.
On his current situation, Grant told the Sporting Post that he remains positive and will keep plugging away.
“It’s a big wheel. We all get our turn to spend time on it at some point. Here’s wishing everybody a wonderful day on Saturday.”
Tote betting opened Monday – here are the various exotics:
Race 1 (11h45):
First leg of JACKPOT ONE. Likely pool R750 000.
Race 2 (12h25):
First leg of BIPOT ONE. Likely pool R750 000.
Race 3 (13h05):
First leg of PLACE ACCUMULATOR. Likely pool
R2,5 MILLION!
Race 4 (13h40):
First leg of PICK 6. R2 MILLION carryover, likely pool R15 MILLION!
Race 5 (14h20):
First leg of JACKPOT TWO. Likely pool
R2 MILLION!
Race 7(16h00):
Hollywoodbets Durban July QUARTET. R1 MILLION carryover, likely pool R10 MILLION!
Race 9 (17h40):
First leg of JACKPOT THREE. R500 000 carryover, likely pool R3 MILLION!
Alongside the Hollywoodbets Gr1 Durban July, the R1,5 million Ridgemont Gr1 Garden Province Stakes is one of two elite level events on Saturday and is one of South Africa’s most important races for fillies and mares.
The past honour roll of the Garden Province includes a host of champions led by the likes of Princess Calla (Flower Alley), Celtic Sea (Captain Al), Bela-Bela (Dynasty),Beach Beauty (Dynasty) and Dancing Danzig (Shoe Danzig).
The brilliant Beach Beauty was not only one of the best winners of the Garden Province Stakes, but she has also proved an excellent broodmare.
To date, Beach Beauty has produced four stakes winners, led by dual Gr1 winner Beach Bomb (Lancaster Bomber), winner of the Gr3 Orchid Stakes and Gr3 The Very One Stakes in the USA.
Beach Beauty, whose two-year-old daughter Beach Verse recently ran third at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth, is also the dam of Gr2 World Sports Betting Guineas winning sire Wild Coast (Trippi), and Gr2 Western Cape Fillies Championship queen Amanzimtoti (Trippi).
Another top-class broodmare to win the Garden Province was Equus Champion Circle Of Life (Complete Warrior).
Circle Of Life is dam of Gr1 Premier’s Champions Challenge winner Deo Juvente, while her multiple stakes winning daughter Mina Salaam
(Medaglia D’Oro) produced speedy dual Gr3 winner, True To Life (Duke Of Marmalade).
The 1977 Garden Province winner Run For Lily (Jamaico) is ancestress of high-class performers, including Gr1 winners Coral Fever, Ravishing and Vega, while the 2010 Garden Province Stakes heroine Here To Win (Roi Normand) made her mark in Japan as the dam of Japanese Gr2 winner Satono Walkure (Deep Impact).
Jallad’s daughter Lyrical Linda won the 2005 Garden Province Stakes before going on to enjoy a tremendous career at stud. She was responsible for four stakes winners, including Gr1 Summer Cup winner Liege (Dynasty), with her Listed Secretariat Stakes winning son Lance (Jet Master) the sire of champion filly Quid Pro Quo.
Lisa Belle, who won the 1972 Garden Province Stakes, produced First Lisa, the dam of three Gr1 winners and South Africa’s Broodmare Of The Year in 1993, and she also ranks as the ancestress of graded stakes winners of the ilk of Bill Of Rights, Boston Globe, Pearl Of Asia, and State Crown.
Distant Echoes, who won the race in 1981, was yet another Garden Province Stakes winner to make her mark on the South Africa studbook.
The dam of six winners, notably Champion Sprinter Harry’s Echoe (Harry Hotspur), Distant Echoes ensured her lasting influence through her three time winning daughter Stormsvlei (Prince Florimund).
Twice Champion Broodmare in South Africa, Stormsvlei’s seven winners include a pair of Gr1
Met winners in the form of triple Horse Of The Year Pocket Power (Jet Master) and River Jetez (Jet Master). The latter was responsible for a pair of graded stakes winners led by Gr1 Computaform Sprint winner Rivarine (Var).
Diorissimo, whose victories included the 1983 Garden Province Stakes, also proved to be top-class at stud. The daughter of Triple Bend produced champion Scented Royal, the latter a topclass broodmare.
Among the notables descended from Diorissimo in female line are Chekilli, Philippa Johnson, the full-brothers Janoobi and Sedge, and world-class sprinter Sweet Sanette
Ascot Stud
Black Swan Stud
Bloodstock SA
Bloomhill Stud
Blue Sky Thoroughbreds
Boland Stud
Camargue Stud
Hadlow Stud
Heuningsfontein Stud
Klawervlei Stud
Riverton Stud
Sandown Stud
Summerview Stud
Held 48 hours before the 129th renewal of the R5 million Hollywoodbets Gr1 Durban July, the KZN Yearling Sale will draw buyers from across South Africa.
Champion Quid Pro Quo was offered for sale at the 2023 KZN Yearling Sale, and bought back for just R60 000 by her breeder.
This season’s high-class two-year-olds Charming Cheetah and Quickstepgal are both graduates of the 2024 sale.
The KZN Yearling Sale is set to take place at the lavish Suncoast Casino in Durban on 3 July The auction will commence at 10h00 on Thursday 3 July and promises once again to prove very popular.
Many of the country’s top farms have drafts on offer, while prominent stallions represented in this catalogue include Fire Away, Gimmethegreenlight, Master Of My Fate, New Predator, One World, Querari, Rafeef, Vercingetorix, and What A Winter.
The Sprint is interactive - enjoy our lot-bylot snapshot in sire alpha order
Ascot Stud is famed for the quality of broodmares which reside there.
The farm is home to mares hailing from some of the very best thoroughbred families in the world. Some of the families will be represented at the 2025 KZN Yearling Sale, where Ascot Stud will be offering six yearlings, with resident sires Global View and Heavenly Blue responsible for all six lots.
A few potential standouts include:
By the same sire as smart performers Truth, Three Rocks and Zinovi, this colt is a half or full brother to four winners. His dam Al Bella
is a full-sister to the dam of Listed World Pool With Tabgold Darley Arabian winner Get Impressed and three-parts sister to champion sire Captain Al.
Out of a stakes placed daughter of the increasingly successful broodmare sire Tiger Ridge, this colt’s granddam is a half-sister to three graded stakes winners led by multiple G1 winning champion Arabian Lass. Further back, this is also the female line of G1 Cape Racing Presents The Cape Guineas winner Russian Rock and international sensations, Minding, Henry Longfellow and Vaguely Noble.
By the same sire as Horse Of The Year Dave The King and the charismatic Global Drummer, this filly is out of a winning half-sister to the stakes placed Gimmethegreenback. From the same family as New Zealand champion Uncle Remus, this filly also hails from the same family as classic winners Mesa and Faraway.
This draft can be found in Blocks D and E at the Suncoast Casino in Durban.
Black Swan Stud will be offering two beautifully bred fillies at the upcoming KZN Yearling Sale.
Sired by Elusive Fort and Master Of My Fate, both fillies hail from powerful families, and both yearlings have plenty of paddock value.
Lot 71: f Master Of My Fate - Field Flower
This filly shares her inform stallion with current stars Atticus Finch (Gr1 Betway Summer Cup), Golden Palm (Gr2 Wilgerbosdrift SA Fillies Nursery), and Anotherdanceforme (Listed Dahlia Plate, Listed East Cape Fillies Nursery). From the same female line as legendary racehorse and sire Bold Ruler, this half-sister to Gr1 Sun Met runner up and sire Last Winter is out of the Silvano sired
Gr1 Avontuur Estate Cape Fillies Guineas
winner Field Flower. She is a strong, well proportioned type who walks well and with purpose. She is hard to fault on conformation.
Lot 172: f Elusive Fort - Silvan Star
Champion Elusive Fort has sired a plethora of good horses, including G1 Vodacom Durban
July/Gr1 World Sports Betting Cape Town Met winning sire Kommetdieding. This filly is out of Gr3 Final Fling Stakes winner, and equine millionaire, Silvan Star, a three-parts sister to
July winning champion Bold Silvano. She is strong, correct and a good active walker, with a well proportioned body. A deep chest and a strong, sloping shoulder make her an eye catching prospect.
These two fillies can be found in Block D at the Suncoast Casino in Durban.
The well performed Rabada looks set to be well represented at the 2025 KZN Yearling Sale.
One of the best horses of his generation, and a grandson of the legendary stallion Storm Cat, Rabada won five of ten starts with his victories including wins in both the Gr1 Premier’s Champion Stakes and Gr1 Daily News 2000 (a race won previously by the likes of Dynasty and Vercingetorix).
From limited opportunities, Rabada has come up with a host of useful winners including Soldier’s Eye, Ermelo, Honorable Member, Addabar and Zatara Magic.
Bloomhill Stud will be offering four yearlings by Rabada at this year’s KZN Yearling Sale.
A half-sister to four winners including the stakes placed Waka Waka, this filly is out of a three-time winning daughter of Jallad and her granddam is a daughter of former champion sire Green Dancer.
This colt’s dam won twice, and his high-class third dam is very closely related to the dam of multiple Australian champion sire Snitzel.
Out of a Gr3 placed daughter of multiple champion sire Gimmethegreenlight, this filly hails from the same family as such Gr1 winners as Royal Meeting, Van Halen and Rock Opera.
A half-brother to a multiple winner, this colt is out of a four-time winning own-sister to Gr3 Fillies Mile runner up I Like It and half-sister to Gr3 winner Lady Magpie.
These four yearlings can be viewed from Block F at the Suncoast Casino in Durban.
Blue Sky Thoroughbreds will be presenting a large and imposing draft at the upcoming KZN Yearling Sale.
One of the most striking things about this string is the quality of stallion represented here. From such top-class stallions as Fire Away, New Predator, One World, and Querari, to promising young stallion Chimichuri Run, Blue Sky Stud’s consignment offers something for every budget.
Brilliant Gr1 Tsogo Sun Sprint winner Chimichuri Run has some very well-bred members of his first crop in this draft. Sunday Seventh, a winning half-sister to globetrotting champion Jay Peg, has a Chimichuri Run filly (Lot 186) on offer, as does Rich Man’s Gold mare Water Is Gold (Lot 205)
The latter is the dam of five winners led by G3 Strelitzia Stakes winner Neptune’s Rain.
Other attractive sorts by Chimichuri Run on offer include the colt (Lot 136) out of smart racemare Nikiya and the filly (Lot 173) out of Silvano’s six-time winning daughter Silver Inspiration.
The increasingly successful One World is the sire of a colt (Lot 171) whose dam won six and ran third in the Gr2 Tibouchina Stakes, while another top stallion, Querari, has three on offer including a filly (Lot 69) out of a four-time winning daughter of Kahal and stakes winning Silvano mare Silver Fantasy.
Quid Pro Quo was an exceptional champion at two, and Blue Sky will be offering two threeparts sisters to that star filly at the KZN Sale.
Miss Charisma (Lot 51) is a daughter of Lance and Quid Pro Quo’s Listed Ruffian Stakes winning half-sister Daring Diva, while fellow Lance filly Certainlydifferent (Lot 150) is out of another half-sister to that Equus Champion.
Blue Sky Thoroughbreds KZN Yearling Sale draft can be found in Blocks B and C at the Suncoast Casino in Durban.
These are just a few of the top-class horses offered by Boland Stud at past renewals of the KZN Yearling Sale. Eugene Freeman will be bringing another highquality draft to the 2025 sale, with Boland’s string including yearlings sired by Fire Away, Gimmethegreenlight, Hawwaam, Malmoos, Querari and Rafeef.
Multiple champion sire Gimmethegreenlight is represented here by a colt (Lot 46) whose first three dams are all black type performers. A half-brother to the useful Twenty Drachma’s, this colt is out of the stakes winning Querari mare Dagmar.
Dagmar’s top-class sire Querari has four yearlings on offer. His quartet includes a fullbrother (Lot 64) to the brilliant Cruise Control, a colt (Lot 141) out of a stakes placed daughter of Captain Al, and a filly (Lot 122) out of a winning half-sister to Listed Oaks Trial winner Chariot Of Gold.
The increasingly successful Rafeef is another top-class stallion represented in Boland’s KZN string. The former G1 Computaform Sprint is responsible for a filly (Lot 45) out of a stakes placed daughter of Var, with this filly bred on the same Rafeef/Var cross as Gr1 winning sires Master Archie and Thunderstruck. Rafeef, whose top-class daughter Frances Ethel was sold at the 2022 KZN Yearling Sale, is also the sire of a colt (Lot 179) out of Gr2 SA Fillies Nursery winner Springs Of Carmel.
Other appealing lots to be found here include the Malmoos half-sister (Lot 144) to the promising Dark Matter and the Fire Away colt (Lot 207) who was produced by the Var sired Listed In Full Flight Handicap winner Wishful Eye.
This draft can be found in Blocks F and G at the Suncoast Casino in Durban.
Camargue Stud, whose resident stallion Captain Of All has enjoyed a big season in 2024-2025, will be bringing a high-class draft to the upcoming KZN Yearling Sale.
From yearlings sired by such promising sires as Chimichuri Run, Declarationofpeace and Erik The Red, to lots by proven Gr1 horses like Act Of War, Captain Of All and the ever popular What A Winter, Camargue’s KZN string has something for everyone.
Brett Van Laun picked out the following yearlings to follow:
Lot 77: c Captain Of All – Futuristic Dame
This colt is very well put together and a good walker.
By the sire of G1 winners Fiery Pegasus and Linebacker, this colt, closely inbred to Captain Al, is out of a twice winning daughter of G2 Fillies Championship runner up Highly Decorated.
Lot 130: c What A Winter – Mohave Princess
This What A Winter colt has a serious presence and not to be missed!
By one of South Africa’s top stallions, this colt is out of Listed Devon Air Stakes winner, and G1 SA Oaks runner up, Mohave Princess, from an outstanding female line
Lot 198: c Declarationofpeace – Trip To Paris
He is extremely athletic and moves well.
Declarationofpeace has made a cracking start to his stud career, and this colt is out of a Trippi half-sister to Duchess Of York Cup winner Night In Seattle. This draft can be found in Block A at the Suncoast Casino in Durban.
Hadlow Stud will be bringing four smart yearlings to the 2025 KZN Yearling Sale.
This quartet is comprised of lots sired by Chimichuri Run, Erupt, Hat Puntano and Summa Cum Laude, with all yearlings hailing from high-class female lines.
A Bit Spicy (Lot 7) is a filly from the first crop of record breaking Gr1 Tsogo Sun Sprint winner Chimichuri Run. This filly is a halfsister to three winners, and the well bred A Bit Spicy hails from the immediate family of such multiple Gr1 winners as Captain America and Kommetdieding among many others.
Charity Mile winner Hat Puntano, the sire of smart performers Hat’s Pride, Hat’s Queen and Eight Hats, is represented here by Tinas Hat (Lot 8). The latter is out of a twice winning daughter of Gr1 Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom, with Tinas Hat’s third dam a full-sister to both New Zealand champion St Reims and Gr1 Melbourne Cup runner up Champagne.
The aptly named Magna Cum Laude (Lot 24) is one of the few foals around for the blue blooded Vercingetorix son Summa Cum Laude. This filly, a three-parts sister to a useful winner, is out of the regally bred Blue Rhone Sky, a winning Dynasty full-sister to multiple graded stakes winner African Night Sky.
Dubawi’s dual Gr1 winning son Erupt has been in good form of late, with Erupt’s latest winners including Listed TAB Gold Bowl winner Taxhaven and World Sports Betting Highland Night Cup hero Shoot The Rapids. Erupt is responsible for Grass Roof (Lot 28), a colt out of a five time winning daughter of top-class broodmare sire Horse Chestnut, and this colt is bred on the same cross as the useful Perilla.
These four yearlings can be found in Block A at the Suncoast Casino in Durban.
Classy gelding Global Drummer proved to be a real star in the Eastern Cape.
The son of Global View, and 2019 National Sale purchase, won six of his first seven starts, with Global Drummer’s winning streak including triumphs in all of the Listed East Cape Nursery, Listed Dahlia Plate, Listed Champion Juvenile Cup and Listed Racing Association Stakes.
The gelding won 15 of 26 starts with Global Drummer banking more than R820 000 in prize money.
Heuningsfontein Stud will be offering a Global View filly (Lot 105), Perfect Sparkler, bred on similar lines to the wonderful Global Drummer at this year’s KZN Yearling Sale.
This filly, who also shares her sire with champion Dave The King, is like Global Drummer out of a mare by a Mr Prospector line horse, with Perfect Sparkler sporting an 11-time winner as her second dam.
Leon Lotz is very upbeat on this filly, and he had the following comments to make about her: “She is a well-balanced, athletic and speedy looking. This filly is bred on similar lines to Global Drummer.”
This filly can be found in Block F at the Suncoast Casino in Durban.
Klawervlei Stud, South Africa’s champion breeders on numerous occasions, will be offering a top-class draft at this year’s KZN Yearling Sale.
Remarkably, each yearling offered in this string was sired by a Gr1 winning stallion, with the likes of Malmoos, Querari, Rafeef and Twice Over all represented here.
The increasingly successful Rafeef has three yearlings on offer, including Star Galaxy (Lot 138), a filly out of a winning full-sister to Gr3 winner Sovereign Spirit, and a colt (Lot 200) whose dam, a winning daughter of outstanding sire Uncle Mo, hails from the same female line as current stars
Henri Matisse and Mon Petit Cherie (the latter sired by Rafeef).
The ever consistent Querari, whose flagbearers include this season’s Gr1 Wilgerbosdrift H F
Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut Stakes winner Cosmic Speed, has two regally bred yearlings on offer.
Captivating, whose dam is a half-sister to three North American graded stakes winners including champion sire Philanthropist, has a Querari filly (Lot 31) on sale, while Perfectproportions, a twicewinning own-sister to champion and outstanding sire Vercingetorix, has a colt (Lot 145) by Querari on sale.
Other attractive prospects on offer include the Malmoos filly (Lot 37), whose three-time winning dam is a half-sister to Gr1 S A Classic winner
Pierre Jourdan, and the Twice Over colt You Made Me Look (Lot 109). The latter is a colt from the immediate family of champions Kayf Tara and Opera House, with You Made Me Look’s fourth dam Gr1 Irish Oaks winner Colorspin.
This string can be viewed from Block D at the Suncoast Casino in Durban.
Riverton Stud have consistently produced top-class horses, and their record at the KZN Yearling Sale is an impressive one.
Among the high-class performers sold by Riverton in KZN are the likes of Al Mariachi, Pearl Of Asia and Same Jurisdiction.
Duncan Barry will be offering two smart colts at this year’s KZN Yearling Sale, with this pair including a half-brother to the aforementioned Gr1 Mercury Sprint winner Pearl Of Asia.
Duncan had the following comments to make about his KZN Sale draft:
By Silvano’s close relative Horizon, this colt is a halfbrother to three winners including Mercury Sprint winner Pearl Of Asia. His third dam is G1 Arc-En-Ciel Paddock Stakes winner Perfect Order. He is a big, strong, well-balanced colt!
By Triple Crown winner Malmoos (whose yearlings averaged over R530 000 at this year’s National Sale), this three-parts brother to the classy One More is from the same family as such Gr1 winners as Bavarian Beauty, Lucky Lad and VJ’s Angel. This is a high quality, good walking colt!
These two colts can be found in Block D at the Suncoast Casino in Durban.
Rafeef. Querari. Pathfork. Legislate. Canford Cliffs… These are just a few of the inform stallions with yearlings to be found in Sandown Stud’s draft for the 2025 KZN Yearling Sale.
James Armitage is pleased with the string he is bringing to Durban, and James had the following comments to make about his potential standout yearlings:
Lot 50: Ushouldbedancing (f) by Pathfork ex Danseuse
A good looking full-sister to Where’s The Party, this filly is athletic with a good hindquarter.
Lot 67: Evening Parade (c) by Rafeef ex Evening Breeze
From the very good E family, the dam has a 100% strike rate of winners to runners, with her offspring including the nine-time winning Esquevelle. A well-balanced strong colt, he is neat and athletic.
Lot 102: Unnamed (f) by Legislate ex Joan Ranger
She is a big strong Legislate filly. Legislate is having another good season with his limited number of runners, his figures say it all and he had another big day when his Good For You won the recent Gr1 Gold Medallion. This filly is in the mould of her dam in terms of size but has lots more quality. Joan Ranger was very good on the track.
Lot 156: Unnamed (f) by Rafeef ex Riqaaby
She is a very nice Rafeef filly from the wonderful Mystic Springs female line. This is a highquality filly with a good hindquarter on her.
Lot 168: Unnamed (c) by Querari ex Shadows In The Sun
A scopy son of Querari, his grandam is the Gr1 winning mare Pacific Blue
Lot 193: Remember The Time (c) by Soqrat ex The Lady Faberge
He is a very good looking colt, his sire Soqrat is very high up on the stallion log in terms of his percentage of winners to Runners. The exciting thing is that this female line has done well with Danehill sire line overseas and this is the same cross. This colt could be anything.
Lot 199: Unnamed (c) by Elusive Fort ex Tuscan Treasure
He is a very high-quality colt from a good female line. This colt is from the same family as the very exciting unbeaten Anotherdanceforme.
This draft can be found in Block C at the Suncoast Casino in Durban.
The Summerveld based farm will be offering six yearlings at this year’s KZN Yearling Sale, with their draft made up of yearlings sired by Chimichuri Run, Futura, Hawwaam, and Soqrat.
Champion and triple Gr1 winner Soqrat, whose progeny include 2025 Listed World Sports
Betting Sledgehammer winner I Salute You and the classy filly Sohot Sowhat, has three lots on offer.
So Indi (Lot 98) is a filly out of Gr3 Flamboyant Stakes winner Indi Anna, while Crimson Clover (Lot 114) is a colt whose granddam is Gr2 The Nursery winner Spring Clover.
Soqrat is also the sire of a filly (Lot 11) from the immediate family of such Gr1 winners as Follow
The Falcon, On Her Toes, Querari Falcon and Savannah Queen.
Joy N Hope (Lot 103) is a Futura colt out of a stakes placed daughter of Vercingetorix, while champion Hawwaam is responsible for Just Carter (Lot 107). The latter is out of a three-time winning half-sister to the dam of millionaire Cartel Captain.
Last, but not least, is the Chimichuri Run filly Tears Of The Sun (Lot 183), with this filly’s granddam a half-sister to champion Damasco.
This draft can be found in Block B at the Suncoast Casino in Durban.
An interprovincial double with two Ridgemont-bred two-year-olds capped a good weekend for trainer Clinton Binda who runs his operation from his private training establishment, in Lanseria.
Binda, who turns 60 in September, learnt the trade with Robin Smith in Zimbabwe and Mark Watters at Milnerton, and is well-known for running his horses unshod.
His association with the Ridgemont team dates back some time and both of his weekend winners were products of the Robertson nursery, racing in the partnership of the breeding operation and Devin Heffer.
Potala Palace’s progressive daughter Season’s
Greetings broke her maiden at her third start at Turffontein on Saturday, giving Gavin Lerena the first of his five winners on the afternoon.
The winner, who is out of the Western Winter mare Winter Reserve, clocked 68,85 secs for the 1160m and looks to have a bright future.
Twenty four hours later in the KZN capital city, the dark green, blue and white silks were in the winner’s enclosure again when the Rafeef colt Chapbook stamped his authority to win at short odds of 3-10.
Also winning at his third outing, Chapbook was ridden by Ridgemont retained jockey Richard Fourie and is out of the Poet’s Voice mare, Leaves Of Grass.
Everything points to him being an exciting prospect with the potential to win over more ground.
Ridgemont will be sponsoring the prestigious Grade 1 Garden Province Stakes at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Saturday for the third consecutive year, and with a serious prospect in their Rafeef home-bred Mon Petit Cherie coming in fresh off her KZN Fillies
Guineas success, the hopes are high that she
can run a big race for the sponsors in a quality line-up.
Last year Ridgemont bred the top two home, when Humdinger (What A Winter) beat Happy Chance (Dynasty) in a thriller.
The R1,5 million Ridgemont Gr1 Garden Province Stakes is off at 17h00 on Saturday 5th July.
An important scientific complimentary tool of the trade for punters and racing enthusiasts, sectional timing data can enhance both the form study and horseracing viewing experience on both KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape race meetings.
In Time Is Money this week, we look at some of Sunday’s standouts at the Hollywoodbets Scottsville meeting and last Wednesday’s polytrack meeting at Hollywoodbets Greyville.
Hollywoodbets Scottsville 29 June
Track
Going: Good (both tracks)
Penetrometer: 23 (both tracks)
Rain:
Last 24 hours NilLast 7 days 2mm
Irrigation: Last 24 hours Nil –Last 7 days 4mm
False Rail: Inside track 5m: Standside 4m rail from 1200 to finish
Wind: 10-15km/h North Easterly head wind
Course Variant: 0,65s fast straight –0,62s fast bend
Just a ¼ of a second separated the winners of the first two races in Pietermaritzburg on Sunday, with the quicker being the maiden juvenile plate won by the newcomer PRINCESS
OF GAUL. Supported throughout the day into even money favourite this daughter of Vercingetorix was soon up handy. She only had to be ridden with hands and heels in order to take up the running 350m out and cruised clear in the closing stages of the race to score effortlessly by nine and a half lengths. One to follow.
The afternoon’s top liner was a Class 3 over 1200m and in what proved to be the faster of the two races over that distance, victory went to the 3yo What A Winter gelding SOHO STAR. Sent off a joint favourite at 28/10, Yogas Govender’s charge raced fifth during the early part of the race some three lengths off a brisk pace set by his heavily supported joint favourite Vihaan’s Web (5/1 into 28/10). Vihaan’s Web set solid fractions throughout and when joined by Soho Star 200m from home, he gallantly found extra. Both gave their all as they drew clear of the remainder, and in a thrilling finish Soho Star only got the verdict by the narrowest of margins.
2 x Class 5 – 1400m
The two 1400m races on what was a very neat card distance wise, were both Class 5 events. The fillies & mares race was comfortably the quickest and here the marginally lessor fancied of Dennis Bosch’s two runners, BEAUTIFUL RANIA registered only her second career victory. After being a little cramped at the start, the rank outsider of the party Flying Reign Storm began to over race and cut through the field quickly before setting a brisk pace. The daughter of Twice Over meanwhile was always travelling well and raced close up in third. She was ridden to lead going through the 300m and kept on strongly in the closing stages of the race to beat the faster finishing Golden Aspen by three quarters.
By just 16/100th of a second the closing Hollywoodbets Bright Future Class 4 event was the fastest of the three 1600m races on the card and here victory went to the friendless SERPENTINE FIRE (14/1 out to 25/1). Drawn widest of the fifteen, Matthys Odendaal’s charge broke well and was soon nicely positioned four lengths off the pace in sixth. The well supported favourite Terminator (drawn one, 4/1 into 2/1) made the running and halfway down the home straight it was clear
that he had the rest well beaten. Confidently ridden by Marco Van Rensburg though, the Potala Palace gelding quickly reeled him in, and with some in hand after taking up the running 150m out, he went on to score going away.
ONE SMART COOKIE recorded the fastest 400m to finish time of the afternoon when running on from the back to fill third position in the Class 3 event for fillies & mares over 1600m.
Fastest Times:
1100m (2) Princess Of Gaul 62,51
1200m (2) Soho Star 67,24
1400m (2) Beautiful Rania 84,77
1600m (3) Serpentine Fire 95,82
400-finish One Smart Cookie 23,14
Hollywoodbets Greyville (poly) 25 June
Track Condition
Going: Standard
Rain: Last 7 days Nil
Wind: 9-24km/h North, North, Easterly head wind
Course Variant: 0,49s fast
2000m
On what was a very moderate card, a C Stakes over 2000m topped the bill and here victory went to the R1,3M Fire Away gelding GURKHA. Initially priced up as a clear favourite at 2/1, Dean Kannemeyer’s charge was uneasy in the betting market and was eventually sent off as a joint favourite at 28/10. On leaving the stalls the apprentice ridden Tin Cup made the running whilst never the quickest into stride, Gurkha raced at the rear. The pace was a fair one and as the others fanned out early in the straight, Craig Zackey cleverly took the shortest way home. Gurkha ran on best of all in the straight and with the rest well beaten, he got the better of the easy to back PAPA C (10/1 out to 14/1) by just over a half.
Despite being the slowest to the halfway point, the opening maiden plate was the fastest of the three 1200m races that opened up the card. As expected it was the well-exposed Higher Love who elected to make the running whilst the eventual winner WING WALKER was content to sit some five lengths adrift in eighth. Always in the red, the son of Rafeef quickly made headway when the pacemaker surprisingly exited the back door early in the straight,
and after taking up the running 300m from home, he cruised clear to score by five and three quarters. The time of 22,71 recorded by Wing Walker over the final 400m was the fastest for that segment of the afternoon.
Just 17/100th of a second separated the winners of the two Class 4 1400m events with the faster being that won from off the pace by MISTER NIBBLES. Five lengths off a fair pace set by the easy to back Western Cape visitor Givethatmanabells for most of the journey, Paul Lafferty’s charge was always travelling well. He ran on strongly in the straight and with the rest comfortably beaten, he got the better of the well-supported favourite Star Of The Future (3/1 into 2/1) 100m from home.
Fastest Times:
Any concerns that Richard Fourie, currently down with flu, will not be fit to ride the favourite Eight On Eighteen in Saturday’s Hollywoodbets Durban July, have been allayed by the Snaith stable.
The reigning SA champion jockey, Fourie went for an early shower at Hollywoodets Scottsville on Sunday and was noticeably croaky on the WSB Hollywoodbets Durban July panel discussion aired live on the same evening.
On 239 winners, Fourie is 4 winners behind leader Gavin Lerena (243) and 3 ahead of Craig Zackey on 236.
Fourie has been stood down from his planned commitments at Fairview today.
The Sporting Post was not able to reach Fourie, but Jonathan Snaith assured us that their jockey would ‘be perfect’ by Saturday.
“He has a bout of flu,” confirmed Snaith.
Fourie has been aboard at all of Eight On Eighteen’s five victories, and has ridden him at his last eight outings.
Grant van Niekerk, who found himself with a ride after See It Again’s withdrawal today saw Litigation entering the mix as first reserve, rode Eight On Eighteen at his first two starts.
Eight On Eighteen is currently at 14-10 with Hollywoodbets.
South African national champion apprentice log leader Brevan Plaatjies,riding with renewed confidence since relocating to the Western Cape two months ago,rode a swashbuckling race to get the 8yo Ralph The Rascal home to win the R100 000 Class 5 Apprentice Handicap at Hollywoodbets Scottsville on Sunday.
Turning for home in the 1400m contest, Ralph The Rascal was near the rear on the outside, as Trent Mayhew gunned away out front on the Querari filly Messalina.
In a dramatic change of landscape, Plaatjies didn’t take the predictable outside route, rather switching in and, not surprisingly, encountering traffic issues from the likes of Lake Cuomo in the process.
In a cavalier display, Plaatjies escaped trouble and ended up nearer the inside as the Bo Ngcobo trained Hollywood Racing gelding swept away to register his first win in two months short of two years, and only his second on the turf.
Clocking 85,49 secs for the 1400m, the evergreen gelding started at 5-1 and beat the 50-1 Corne Spies visitor Messalina by 0,40 lengths,
Recent icebreaker Savanna Valjalo was a short head back in third on Kimball O’Hara (10-1), with Kobeli James Lihaba rounding off the quartet on 66-1 shot The supernovastar.
The 5-2 favourite Soldier Boy was never going well under Jaycee Botes and ran downfield.
Ralph The Rascal has been a stalwart for the Hollywood Racing team and made it 6 wins at his 60th career start, which includes ATM level places of 25 starts for gross stakes of close on R640 000.
A R180 000 Ready To Run graduate, he was bred by Moutonshoek and is a son of Gimmethegreenlight (More Than Ready) out of the Toreador mare, Ice Link.
Ralph The Rascal was named after a longstanding team member in the in the Star Factory division of the Hollywood Group.
With 26 winners, Brevan Plaatjies looks a serious contender to secure national honours and is at 2-10 in the Hollywoodbets Apprentice Jockeys Challenge, with nearest challenger Trent Mayhew (21 winners) at 16-10). The rest are 100-1 and upwards.
In the Jockeys Championship chase, the position didn’t change with each of the top trio grabbing a winner apiece on Sunday.
At the close of play on Sunday evening, Gavin Lerena is on 243, with Richard Fourie on 239 and Craig Zackey on 236 winners.
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Lambourn (Australia – Gossamer Wings, by Scat Daddy) emulated his sire and grandsire when completing the Derby double at the Curragh on Sunday.
After making all to a commanding win at Epsom, the Aidan O’Brien-trained colt was sent off favourite for the Irish Derby and raced prominently throughout under Ryan Moore.
Pushed along turning for home, the Coolmore homebred was ridden from two furlongs out and
dug deep to deny stablemate Serious Contender (Wootton Bassett) by three parts of a length, with another two and a quarter lengths back to the third.
“Aidan wins this race a lot but it took me a long time to win it,” Ryan Moore commented.
“I grew up watching Irish Derby’s and the great horses who have won it, so it is a really important race. It would be great if it could get back to where it should be.
“Lambourn is just a very relaxed horse and was only doing the minimum with what he could get away with. He stays well, is straightforward and is typical of his sire (Australia) and how Aidan trains them. He’ll keep getting them to progress, to be consistent and he’ll keep running big races all year.”
Aidan O’Brien added: “Ryan gave him a lovely ride, thought he would keep pulling out and he was pricking his ears all the way. He’s like his dad, if you put him in first gear, he stays in first gear; if you
put him in third gear, he’ll stay in third gear. He’s not influenced by anything around him, but always wants to please and never overdo himself.”
“He could be a King George horse, he could be an Arc horse. He gets the trip well and is very sound and very genuine.”
Lambourn is one of two Group 1 winners by Australia this season, the other being Coronation Stakes heroine Cercene.
Lambourn provided Aidan O’Brien with his sixth Derby double on Sunday denying his stablemate Serious Contender in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby, following up what his sire Australia and grand sire Galileo did earlier this century.
He also provided the Ballydoyle yard with the Group 1 double at the Curragh showpiece meeting after Whirl’s tenacious victory in the Paddy Power Pretty Polly Stakes a day earlier.
Ryan Moore and Whirl made all to win the tenfurlong feature, seeing off her year-older rival, the Juddmonte owned Kalpana.
The Wootton Bassett filly was joined by oddson favourite Kalpana, ridden by Colin Keane, passing the two pole with the Andrew Balding trained challenger seemingly going better. However, the Epsom Oaks runner-up kept finding for Moore, getting the better of a protracted duel with last year’s Gr1 Fillies’ & Mares’ Stakes winner over the final fifty yards to score by a length and a quarter.
There was a further length and three quarters back to the French challenger Survie in third.
This was a landmark victory for Aidan O’Brien and Ryan Moore as it was their 150th Group 1 win together.
Winning trainer Aidan O’Brien noted post-race:
“She’s a great filly, very special.”
“She’s one of those unusual fillies. She doesn’t blow, typical marathon runner type, she’s the ultimate racing machine.”
“Unbelievable race to watch. Colin and Ryan weren’t giving each other an inch the whole way. That’s what you want to come racing to watch, two riders and two horses like that line up the whole length of the straight at the
Curragh on good ground on a day like this makes it very special.”
“I think it’s a race that we’ll remember for a long time.”
There was a South African connection to the meeting with Skukuza landing the listed Colm McLoughlin Celebration Stakes in impressive fashion. Skukuza, the name of a rest camp in the Kruger Park, races in the Cayton Park Stud colours, owned by Mrs Gaynor Rupert. He is trained in England by Ed Dunlop.
A course and distance winner last time out on Irish Guineas weekend, he was sent to the front from the start by Ryan Moore and came home over two lengths clear of the useful Irish colt Alakazi. The four-year-old Blue Point colt could step up to group class later in the season.
The United States hails from one of the best families in the stud book.
This magnificent family gained yet another notable boost when Whirl, whose dam Salsa is a full-sister to The United States, won the Gr1 Paddy Power Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh on Saturday.
A three-year-old daughter of Wootton Bassett, Whirl had finished runner up in the G1 Betfred Oaks last time out.
Also victorious in this season’s Gr3 Tattersalls Musidora Stakes, Whirl has won four of eight starts.
Her dam Salsa is a winning full-sister to the Gr1 winners The United States (Ranvet Stakes), Hydrangea (Matron Stakes, British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes) and dual Guineas queen Hermosa.
The latter is the dam of this season’s G3 Hampton Court Stakes winner Trinity College (Dubawi), while Hydrangea is the dam of 2025 Listed Coolmore Stud Irish EBF Tetrarch Stakes winner Officer.
This is also the family of star three-year-old Henri Matisse, an impressive winner of the 2025 Gr1 Emirates Poule d’Essai des Poulains (French 2000 Guineas).
The United States also enjoyed success on Friday when his Listed Dahlia Plate winning son Kingdundee made it six wins from just nine starts.
With only 50 races remaining in the 2024/25 season, Zac Purton secured an eighth Hong Kong jockeys’ championship with a treble at Sha Tin on Saturday to hold an unassailable 59-win lead over nearest rival Hugh Bowman.
Purton, 42, struck aboard Gentlemen Legacy, Copartner Fleet and Fashion Legend to claim a fourth successive championship.
The Australian previously claimed the jockeys’ title in 2013/14, 2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20, 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2023/24 and now has a record 1,866 Hong Kong wins overall.
“It’s really nice to win another one, this is my eighth. I’ve had another good season apart from having a stack (accident in February) halfway through with a few highlights with some big horses,” Purton said, referring to champion sprinter Ka Ying Rising.
“All in all, I’m very happy again.”
Purton has 126 wins for the season with Bowman next on 67, Andrea Atzeni (55) and Brenton Avdulla (45).
Purton combined with Tony Cruz’s Gentlemen Legacy to claim a PP Bonus of HK$1.5 million with success in the Class 3 Nam Chung River Handicap (2000m) before three-year-old Copartner Fleet (129lb) saluted for Francis Lui in the first section of the Class 4 Beas River Handicap.
Purton then triumphed on David Eustace’s Fashion Legend (124lb) in the Class 4 Sha Tau Kok River Handicap (1650m, dirt). Eustace posted the 35th winner of an impressive Hong Kong debut season when Riding Together forged to victory in the Class 4 Shan Pui River Handicap (1400m) under Andrea Atzeni.
Purton shared riding honours with apprentice Ellis Wong, who slotted his first Hong Kong three-timer with success on David Hayestrained Ariel in the Class 3 Shek Sheung River Handicap (1650m, dirt), Douglas Whyte’s King Oberon in the Class 5 Lam Tsuen River
Handicap and S J Tourbillon in the Class 4 Ng Tung River Handicap for Dennis Yip.
Wong, who cites Purton, Hugh Bowman and Vincent Ho as the jockeys he aspires to emulate, had ridden a four-timer at Gawler in South Australia in 2023 but was elated to have exceeded his previous best haul in Hong Kong.
“This is my first time to have three winners in Hong Kong, so I’m very happy,” Wong said. “These past few months I have had more support and I really appreciate that. I still have a lot to learn but when the opportunities are coming, I have been lucky to take advantage.
“I’m trying to learn a lot from Zac, from Hugh who is very patient, and I love Vincent.”
Wong has thrived with 11 wins across the past seven meetings.
Alexis Badel celebrated a triumphant reunion with Beauty Waves as the gifted sprinter landed the HK$3.72 million Class 1 Pearce Memorial Challenge Cup Handicap (1000m).
Having his first start for Tony Cruz after previously being prepared by Pierre Ng, the chestnut was too slick for Wunderbar and Magic Control over the straight course to slot his fifth win from 21 starts in 55.67s.
“It’s good to be back on him, I’m grateful that Tony gave me the ride and he’s a talented horse and it was just a nice win,” Badel said. “I’ve had good support recently from Mr Cruz and it’s just
nice to deliver and I hope it continues.
“I’m doing the best I can to give my horses every chance and today it was good to win in such a good race.”
Cruz said: “I was expecting him to run a big race. I wasn’t really confident about the horse winning the race, but he showed today he’s got some ability and I believe I can get better results. I believe he can win more races.
“I’m so happy this horse came over (to my stable). I liked this horse from the very beginning. I’ve been watching him in the past. He’s always a real speedy horse, like he showed today, and he won in good time and I believe he’s a 1000m horse.”
Hayes-trained veteran Gallant Crown bowed out in perfect style with victory in the Class 5 Kam Tin River Handicap under Avdulla.
“He’s retired now,” Hayes said. “Not many horses get to do that, win their last start. He’s done a good job.”
Making his 67th start, Gallant Crown notched his eighth win and took his earnings to
HK$7.9 million before the promising Lucky My Way made it two wins in a row for Derek Leung in the second section of the Class 4 Beas River Handicap and gave Manfred Man his 40th win of the season.
Michael Chang crowned a productive week when Rising From Ashes (120lb) sprinted sharply to clinch the Class 3 Tan Shan River Handicap (1400m) under Antoine Hamelin. Chang scored a double at Happy Valley on Wednesday (25 June) with Amazing Victory and Woodfire Champ.
to the
Former SA champion jockey Lyle Hewitson is recovering well after a horror fall involving fellow SAJA graduate Karis Teetan and colleague Jerry Chau Chun-lok at Happy Valley on Wednesday 25 June.
Lyle was speared into the turf when favourite Seasons Wit came down around 75m from the line after fracturing his left fore fetlock. Lyle suffered a fractured wrist and a suspected fractured ankle.
Speaking to the Sporting Post earlier this week, the champion said that he was doing well.
“Given the circumstances I probably even could say very well. I’m in very minor pain only at times, more just uncomfortable sometimes, but not bad at all,” he explained.
“I’ll have x-rays and check-ups at the two week marker after which I intend to head home for a holiday, whilst at the same time getting stuck into some rehab.”
Lyle went on to explain that he is currently starting hyperbaric oxygen chamber treatment and low level light wave therapy, in the meantime.
Asked about Teetan and Chun-lok, Lyle says that they are both in ‘good nick’ and are back in action already.
“I’m out definitely for two months at which stage we will reassess, which is fine considering my main objective is to be fighting fit for the beginning of the new Hong Kong season,” he concluded.
With the Hong Kong Season coming to an end on 16 July, Lyle will end on 29 winners and gross stakes of HK$52 595 475.
Sanctions of owners who failed to dispose of their horses in terms of the rules and a Workrider who was found to have misused his crop by striking his mount 19 times – that is 7 over the limit – are included in this week’s National Horseracing Authority Calendar.
The calendar, published every Friday, is a summary of the past week’s penalties and registrations and is an easy-to-read snapshot of information.
Mr
Mr
J O CK E YS results up to: 2025-07-02
18,603,781 10,500,225 9,285,906 6,382,000 6,656,719 27,344,426 14,346,700 14,155,694 11,005,500 10,068,044
26,307,719 20,064,319 10,437,000 8,096,906 32,212,144 33,749,621 29,381,284 17,765,589 13,536,644
32,464,883 30,876,960 24,657,761 15,693,363 12,793,986 BREEDERS
33,153,106 22,375,278 18,573,174 16,702,846 16,204,491 S I RE S T R A I NER S
