This year’s Hollywoodbets Durban July will mark the 50th anniversary of one of its great winners, the Syd Laird-trained Yataghan.
However, it was a close call as an outsider called Storm Signal flew up on the outside and failed by a nostril to get there.
Storm Signal was ridden by none other than KZN’s current champion trainer elect Garth Puller.
Storm Signal was trained by Transvaal’s Henry Eatwell.
He was a full-brother to the legendary Eatwell-trained Home Guard, who still holds the South African record of winning his first eleven starts, before suffering his first defeat in the 1969 July.
Puller recalled Eatwell being a good friend of Cape trainer Jackie Bell, whom Puller regularly rode for.
Bell recommended Puller for the ride on Storm Signal in the Cape Derby of 1970.
Puller was at the time the leading apprentice.
His inexperience cost himself and Storm Signal the Derby, but it turned out to be one of his greatest learning curve races as a jockey.
At the time he was unable to use his weaker left hand and recalled, with the stick in his right hand, Storm Signal continually lugging on to the other contender in the finish, Chichester.
Garth recalls Storm Signal continuously lugging across under the whip and each time he had to stop riding and straighten him before the process was repeated.
He recalls also being continuously sworn at by senior jockey Benny Little, who was riding the favourite Lightning Path
He lost the race by a quarter-of-a-length and afterwards Eatwell reinforced what he had already told himself by advising him to stop using his right hand for the whip.
Garth recalled, “From that day onward I did everything to strengthen my left hand, and I even used to carry my whip around with me and hit flowers off etc. I eventually actually became much stronger with my left hand.”
Storm Signal won the Grade 3 Lonsdale Stirrup Cup over 2400m at Greyville as a four-year-old and a Listed race on the Highveld over 2000m as a five-year-old.
The 1973 July, when he was a six-year-old, was his second attempt at the big race.
He finished a decent 5,75 length seventh to the great In Full Flight in 1972 carrying 50kg.
He was set to carry only 50.5kg in 1973 and Puller was reunited with him as a last minute replacement for Vincent Curtis
He went off at 40/1 odds in a fine field in which Sword Dancer was favourite at 3/1 and Yataghan and Elevation were 4/1 and 7/1 respectively.
Garth, known throughout his career as “the head waiter” due to his tendency to come from way off the pace, planned to drop Storm Signal out from his draw of eleven.
He said, “I used to like to relax them and then get them on to the rail. The horses that pushed forward often ended up behind you, because they couldn’t get in and then had to drop back to find cover.”
Storm Signal, from near last, flew in the straight on the outside and needed just one more stride to get up.
Garth thought he might have won.
However, he saw Bertie Hayden celebrating, so asked him if he thought he had won.
Hayden screamed back at him a well known racing term that describes a horse which has won easily, although it is a bit rude to publish here.
Garth replied, “I dunno Mr Hayden I think I might have won it.”
The excited Hayden screamed back, “Go away, Lighty!”, although not quite in those words!
Hayden proved correct, although the official distance was indeed a short-head.
It was the second of Hayden’s three July wins, all for Syd Laird, while it was the sixth of Laird’s record seven July’s.
It was one of the most thrilling July finishes in history.
Another current Summerveld trainer Michael Roberts was beaten just 0,3 lengths into fourth on Wave Crest.
There was just half-a-length between the winner and the sixth placed horse.
Yataghan is one of only seven horses in history to have won the July and the Met.
Puller went on to win two Julys on the Peter Kannemeyer-trained Over The Air in 1979 and the Bert Abercrombie-trained Bush Telegraph in 1987.
