The picture shows the 1931 Durban July winner Agrippa being led into the winner’s enclosure.

The five-year-old by multiple champion sire Polystome was trained by WW Pickering, ridden by R de Valle and owned by GH O’Meara.

This renewal became known as “the depressing July” because of both the inclement weather and a shock, “oddly proportioned” 50/1 winner, who stunned punters into silence.

However, one punter was famously thrilled by the result.

In the lead up to the 1931 Durban July a farmer from Zululand planted a mealie pip for each of the 37 horses nominated with the idea of placing a bet on the first mealie that began to sprout. Agrippa’s mealie was the first to sprout. It is not known whether this happening prompted the Hollywoodbets Durban July tradition of planting beans for every horse with the tallest bean being the one who is predicted to win.

Picture: The July beans (Gold Circle).

1931 also saw the first known incidence of people flying in to watch the July. They were Mr J Hursh and Mr R Liebanwitz who flew from East London to the Stamford Hill aerodrome in a Union Airways Fokker monoplane piloted by Dennis Labistour.

The twist to this story is that Labistour went on to train and own (in partnership with racing writer Molly Reinhardt) two July winners, Gay Jane in 1951 and C’est Si Bon in 1955. They were both by the 1941 July winner Sadri II. 

Picture: Southafricanracehorse.wordpress.com