Green With Envy sauntering to victory in the Gr 1 Splashout Cape Derby (Picture: Wayne Marks)
The progressive Dean Kannemeyer-trained Gimmethegreenlight colt Green With Envy is the ruling 3/1 ante-post favourite for the Gr 1 Hollywoodbets Durban July and has been priced up as the 7/10 favourite for Saturday’s Gr 1 Daily News 2000.
Kannemeyer is pleased with where Green With Envy is at and said, “He is doing very well. I was very impressed with the way he won the WSB Guineas. It was too sharp for him with the tailwind. So we’re going to the Daily News and then into the July and the distance is not a problem as he proved by winning the Politician Stakes and the Derby. He is in great shape. He came through his WSB Guineas win well and will be a lot more comfortable over the distances of the Daily News and the July.”
Asked on his current July weight of 53,5kg he said, “Well, I’m quite happy where I am at the moment, but we’ll see what happens in the Daily News.”
He added, “If you look at him now compared to the athlete he was six to eight months ago, he’s maturing and strengthening up. So I think as he’s going along in his three-year-old career, he’s getting better and better.”
He concluded, “If he come through the Daily News well, there’s just the draws and a lot of luck in running of the July. We’ve been there a few times.”
In fact the yard have won it a few times.
Dean’s father Peter Kannemeyer won it with Over The Air in 1979 and Dean himself has won it with the great Dynasty in 2003, Eyeofthetiger in 2006 and Power King in 2015.
Comparing Green With Envy to his last three-year-old winner Eyeofthetiger, he said, “Eyeofthetiger was a very different type of horse. He was an improving horse. He came in at the right weight, the right draw, and everything fell into place. So you need a lot of luck. But this horse has done more than Eyeofthetiger and more than Power king. He didn’t do more than Dynasty! Although, we don’t know … He won the Guineas, and now we’ve got the Daily News and then we’ll see what happens.”
Dynasty won all three of those races in 2003, although the WSB Guineas was called the SA Guineas back then and was a Gr 1.
Green With Envy has drawn five in the nine horse Daily News 2000 field and regular pilot Craig Zackey will be aboard.
