Owners Greg Bortz and Gina Goldsmith take a video call in one of the proudest moments of their lives shortly after their horse Oriental Charm had won the Hollywoodbets Durban July (Candiese Lenferna Photography)

The South African racing industry celebrated a Hollywoodbets Durban July win of special significance as everybody agreed there could not have been a more deserving winning owner than Greg Bortz, whose input into the industry has been immensely impactful over the last couple of years.

When the Brett Crawford-trained Vercingetorix gelding Oriental Charm flashed past the line 0,30 lengths clear of Cousin Casey it was the conversion of a long held dream for the Durban-born Bortz.

He said after the race on Saturday, “It sounds cliched, but growing up just up the road, it truly is a dream come true.”

Greg grew up a stones throw away from Greyville racecourse and was first attracted to the sport when hearing the commentaries from his childhood household in Florida Road.

He owns Oriental Charm together with his girlfriend Gina Goldsmith as well as Leon Ellman, while jockey JP van der Merwe could also celebrate a first July victory.

It was a second successive July victory for the father and son training team of Brett and James Crawford.

Greg said in an interview a couple of years ago that he had found it “surreal” to have a runner in the July, the Justin Snaith-trained Pomp And Power, who started favourite but could only manage tenth place.

If just having a runner was surreal it is little wonder that he described the finish and aftermath on Saturday as a “blur” … he must have literally been on cloud nine.

To give some background into his Durban days, he recalled in the aforementioned interview that his first ever bet was R5 on Lightning Shot in the 1977 July. The Des Rich-trained four-year-old won under Leslie Mustard at odds of 10/1.

“There was no coming back from that!” he had laughed at the time of the interview, although since becoming a big  owner he does not have a cent on his horses as he prefers “the photo-finish.”

A few of his friends at the school he went to, Carmel College, were also racing fans and he recalls one of them bringing his racing newspaper pull outs to school.

One of his schoolmates, Nick Sternberg, was the son of Martin Sternberg who owned horses like Spanish Pool.

Oriental Charm’s victory fell on the 40th anniversary of Spanish Pool’s first attempt at the July in 1984, where he finished seventh, before finishing fifth the following year.

It also fell on the 20th anniversary of Greys Inn’s July win, which is of importance because Oriental Charm is out of a Greys Inn mare.

Nevertheless, Greg admitted to not being too confident before Saturday’s  race.

He said, “This felt like the most open Hollywoodbets Durban July I can remember. I knew the horse was spot on, but I knew everyone was going to rely on us to make the pace. I knew him to be a keen horse who pings the gate so well he would find himself in front. So I wasn’t confident because how could a front running horse win over 2200m? It’s not an easy task in a Hollywoodbets Durban July. So, no, I wasn’t confident.”

However, as the day panned out, Greg confirmed his confidence grew.

He said immediately after the race, “The tailwind helped, although it has died down. For a while it was like the Gods were favouring us.”

However, the race itself was an emotional roller coaster.

“The one thing this horse has shown us over and over again, is he has heart like no horse I’ve ever owned. I thought he was beat twice and he came back twice. It is as JP likes to say, ‘He’s a boytjie!'”

Asked, due to the tightness of the finish, whether he had only begun celebrating as the horse crossed the line, he replied, “No only about 200m after the line! I wasn’t sure. You are so focused on your horse it was only about ten minutes later I found out who the runner up was, it was all a blur!”

Greg has become an industry hero due to the incredible job he has done in revitalising Cape Racing from a position where it was literally on the brink of being closed down. His influence has seen the positivity in SA racing turning full circle from free fall into an upward trend.

He did it with the help of Hollywoodbets and these two partners are all set to be do the same in KZN.

However, the first time Greg was in the spotlight was at the 2022 BSA National Yearling Sale.

At the time his Gr 1 Cape Derby-winning hero Pomp And Power, a Vercingetorix gelding, was one of the favourites for the July.

At Nationals Greg seemed intent on cornering the Vercingetorix market. On day one seven of the eight lots he splashed out on were by Vercingetorix.

The July must have been in his mind and the plan came together on Saturday, because among those seven purchases was Oriental Charm himself.

Ironically, the Cheveley Stud-bred colt went relatively cheaply at R375,000, considering the average for Vercingetorix was more than R600,000.

However, Bortz had done his homework, if the July was indeed his aim, as it is clear to see from his pedigree why the gelding stayed so well on Saturday. His dam called Souk is by July winner Greys Inn and, although this Listed-placed mare’s three wins were from 1200m to 1600m, she is out of an unraced Strike Smartly mare who was an own sister to SA Derby winner Bouquet-Garni.

Furthermore, Vercingetorix is the son of the greatest July sire in history, Silvano. So Oriental Charm has a fine July pedigree with both Silvano and Greys Inn close up.

As well as a Vercingetorix exacta, there was also an exacta for Durban-born owners in Saturday’s July as the runner up Cousin Casey’s owner Ravi Naidoo is also Durban-born.

Naidoo said on the morning after the race, “It was a squeaker, so close, but what a privilege. I feel only gratitude this morning.”

The race was full of controversy as usual and Ravi’s other runner, Future Swing, was the biggest victim. Shoemaker sufferered epistaxis halfway through and when he dropped back suddenly See It Again was forced inward and this saw Future Swing being squeezed against the rail.

Ravi said, “Richard Fourie was almost thrown over the rail, he returned with scuff marks in his boot. Future Swing lost shoes in the fracas and we are worried the incident was so bad it may have put paid to his career.”

See It Again suffered more interference later.

Piere Strydom said, “I tried to get there as late as possible and I feel he was catching slowly. The best I was going to do was third, but at the end I had to stop riding when JP cut me off. I don’t blame him, it’s the July and sometimes we do silly things in this race, but it cost me third place.”

JP was given a 16 day suspension for the transgression.

Two other KZN horses benefited from the Michael Roberts-trained See It Again’s misfortune as the Nathan Kotzen-trained Royal Victory finished third and the Gareth van Zyl-trained Flag Man was fourth.

It is interesting to note that had the old rules been in place then it would be runner up Cousin Casey’s owner Ravi Naidoo who would be revelling in July glory and trainer Sean Tarry and jockey S’Manga Khumalo would both be celebrating a third July win respectively.

The old rules stated that a horse just had to have been cost a place by the offending horse for the latter to be demoted, whereas the new rules state that the interfered with horse would have had to have beaten the horse who interfered with him or her for the result to be changed.

See It Again, who finished fifth, was cost third place by Oriental Charm, who ran across him just before the line. However, no objection was forthcoming because as Strydom himself admitted he would not have finished better than third.

However, the interference undoubtedly cost See It Again third place and under the old rule Cousin Casey would have been declared the winner with Royal Victory second, Flag Man third, See It Again fourth and Oriental Charm only fifth.

The rule change was likely made to ensure the best horse wins the race and Oriental Charm was no doubt the best horse at the weights on Saturday and the deserved winner.

Cousin Casey was earmarked as a future July winner after a flawless Hollywoodbets Greyville campaign as a two-year-old, which saw him winning a Listed race , a Grade 2 and a Grade 1, and his flying finish along the inside on Saturday rail was only scuppered by the tremendous resolve and courage of Oriental Charm.

Cousin Casey has a stud career ahead and victory would have seen his value increasing.

As Ravi said on Sunday morning, nobody remembers the runner up.

He said it would be ascertained how well Cousin Casey had pulled up before planning his next move.

However, the July bug has probably bitten like never before for Ravi and he is likely to be thinking of a July winner when next at the sales.

Father and son training team Brett and James Crawford were able to enjoy  Hollywoodbets Durban July victory more the second time around as they were overwhelmed by emotion after their first win of the iconic race last year. (Candiese Lenferna Photography)

It pays to understand handicapping and two industrymen who understand it well are the father and son training combination of Brett and James Crawford.

It is no coincidence that they landed a second successive Hollywoodbets Durban July on Saturday , this time with the Vercingetorix gelding Oriental Charm, although their training skills and ability to think out of the box have had just as much impact on their success rate.

This is not to detract from the trainers of the beaten horses on Saturday, especially the runner up Sean Tarry, who is also well known for his meticulous understanding of the merit rating system.

A trainers first prize if having a top horse on his or her hands would be weight for age Gr 1 events with the July as a bonus.

However, when having the perfect July horse on one’s hands i.e. an under the radar , up and coming sort, winning the the July can be made easier with the right training regime and right racing program.

A sound knowledge of handicapping plays a role in choosing the right program for a horse.

The Crawfords repeated last year’s win with Winchester Mansion almost to a tee.

Both Winchester Mansion and Oriental Charm travelled down from Randjesfontein three times to run in the Gr 2 WSB 1900, the Gr 3 Hollywoodbets Dolphins Cup Trial and the Gr 1 Hollywoodbets Durban July. They both finished a 0,30 length second in the 1900, they won the Cup Trial by 3,10 and 1,20 lengths respectively and they both won the July by 0,25 and 0,30 lengths respectively.

This year there was a conditions change that saw the older horses minimum weights being raised by 1kg. Older males had to carry 54kg instead of 53kg.

It is ironic that had this change been in place last year, then on paper See It Again would have beaten Winchester Mansion and had this change not been in place this year then on paper Cousin Casey would have beaten Oriental Charm.

However, that is not to take anything away from either winner or the Crawford’s superbly executed plans on both occasions.

In fact it was one of the reasons for Brett Crawford’s confidence going onto the race.

He said after the race on Saturday, “A lot of people forgot that as a three-year-old he was giving those older horses weight (when second in the WSB 1900 and winning the HWB Dolphins Cup Trial) and today there was a massive turnaround in the weights.”

He added, “It is another well executed plan. He did everything right, the horse had a flawless prep, he looked amazing today and I thought JP gave him an outstanding ride.”

As far as thinking out of the box is concerned, opening a Highveld satellite yard appeared to be a strange move for the Crawford yard three years or so ago. Little did everybody know that one of the chief reasons was to use it as a base for the preparation of their Champions Season horses. Training at altitude is well known as a big booster to athletic peformance and the success of Highveld-trained horses in KZN races provides some anecdotal evidence that it works just as well in equine athletes as it does in human beings.

James runs the satellite yard in Johannesburg.

Last year Winchester Mansion defied the belief, based on anecdotal evidence, that a horse could not travel down from altitude three times and still win. Oriental Charm did the same this year as well as going into the race off that aforementioned identical preparation.

Next year the Crawford yard will be out to equal Justin Snaith’s feat this millennium of capturing the July three times in a row, which is one off the record four successive Julys set by the great trainer Fred Murray from 1910 to 1913.

So punters should keep a close eye on their under the radar three-year-olds in the forthcoming season and on four-yeaar-olds who also fit into that category.

On stage celebrations after the Sean Tarry-trained Cosmic Speed (Querari) had won the Gr 2 Durban Golden Horsehoe under Craig Zackey (Candiese Lenferna Photography) 

Justin Snaith has at some stages this season been a long odds-on favourite to defend his South African trainers championship and he, as well as those punters who took that price, will have been thanking their lucky stars that the Sean Tarry-trained Cousin Casey did not win the R5 million Hollywoodbets Durban July.

Even with Cousin Casey’s second place finish, coupled with an exacta in the  the Gr 2 R500,000 Durban Golden Horseshoe with Cosmic Speed and Proceed, and a third place finish in the Gr 3 R300,000 DSTV Gold Vase with Nebraas, Tarry has closed to within striking distance of Snaith.

On the other hand, Oriental Charm winning the July now sees Brett Crawford in contention for the title too, even if he remains a longshot.

Crawford also ran second with Happy Chance in the R1.5 million Gr 1 Ridgemont Garden Province Stakes, second with Fatal Flaw in the R500,000 Zulu Kingdom Explorer Golden Slipper and second in the Gr 2 R500,000 Post Merchants with At My Command.

Snaith had one of his most forgettable July days with his best black type finish being third in the Garden Province with the luckless Double Grand Slam and he otherwise had two fourth place finishes in Grade 3s, each worth R300,000.

He is now on  earnings of R19,602,250, just R1,197,112 clear of Tarry and R2,062,475 clear of Crawford.

There will be all to play for on Gold Cup day, just like there was last year.

Last year Tarry was well over R2 million behind Snaith on the morning of Gold Cup day and he got himself into a position where he would have been crowned champion with a favourable result in the Gr 1 Thekwini Stakes. Unfortunately, his two runners in the latter race ran unplaced.

Hollywoodbets Greyville was awash with Hollywoodbets insignia on Hollywoodbets Durban July day on Saturday and fittingly their racehorse ownership concern, the Hollywood Syndicate, closed the gap on the national owners championship holders and current log leaders, Drakenstein Stud (Candiese Lenferna Photography)

Hollywoodbets Durban July day can also have a massive impact on the owners and breeders championships.

Drakenstein Stud are the holders of both titles.

They did not make the frame in any races on the day as owners and this allowed their nearest challengers, The Hollywood Syndicate, to close the gap.

Hollywood had a second place finish with Happy Chance in the Gr 1 R1.5 million Ridgemont Garden Province Stakes and second place finishes in both a R170,000 Pinnacle event and in a R140,000 handicap.

This saw Hollywood closing to within R1,037,781  of Drakenstein, whose earnings are R13,505,794.

Nick Jonsson is the leading individual owner in the country and could have had an impact on the championship with a perfect July, where he must be the first individual owner for a long time to have had three runners.

However, his runners See It Again, Double Superlative and Hluhluwe, could only manage fifth, ninth and eleventh respectively.

He is now in third place on the log, but is about R6,780,000 off the lead.

In the breeders race Drakenstein had a win with Narina Trogon in the R200,000 Listed Compendium Insurance Brokers Handicap and a fourth place finish with Mucho Dinero in a Gr 3 worth R300,000.

However, the current championship leaders Wilgerbosdrift and Mauritzfontein did not have a memorable day either, so the title is very much up for grabs.

Wilgerbosdrift and Mauritzfontein had a win in a R140,000 handicap, a third place finish with Cats Pajamas in the Gr 2 Durban Golden Horseshoe over 1400m and a second place finisih in a R140,000 handicap.

This sees Wilgerbosdrift and Mauritzfontein on stakes earnings of R30,151,319, just R737,125 clear of Drakenstein Stud.

This year marked the 58th anniversary of a horseracing incident which shocked the nation, the shooting of the star colt Sea Cottage just three weeks before the country’s most prestigious race, the Durban July.

However, it was an incident which ensured he will never be forgotten because he came back as good as ever and went on to prove himself the greatest racehorse to ever set foot on the South African turf, a title which later became threatened only by the great Horse Chestnut.

Charl Pretorius wrote about the great horse in his latest Off The Record column.

It is well woth a read.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE SEA COTTAGE ARTICLE

Oriental Charm’s seventh dam is Natalma, dam of the possibly the most influential sire in history, Northern Dancer. The latter is on Oriental Charm’s sire line.