S’Manga Khumalo rides Rain In Holland in the Hollywoodbets Durban July (Sean Tarry Racing).
Anybody who rides a horse trained by Sean Tarry in the Hollywoodbets Durban July has a chance and S’Manga Khumalo gets the ride on Rain Holland, one of three horses the masterful trainer still has standing.
Khumalo will be out to join C MacDonald (1900/1901), Syd Garrett (1919/1920), Anthony Delpech (2010/2011) and Richard Fourie (2019/2020) as jockeys to have won the July two years in succession.
However, he will be the first to do it with two fillies.
If Rain In Holland wins it will be the first time in history females have won the race two years in succession.
Khumalo was praised last year for one of the great July rides.
He made his winning move from the off on the Mike de Kock-trained Silvano filly Sparkling Water, finding the rail from draw 12, before settling her into a handy position and then kicking for home at the top of the straight culminating in a three length victory.
Sparkling Water was the fifth Silvano to win the July, which makes him the greatest July sire in history.
Khumalo’s first July win was on the Tarry-trained Silvano gelding Heavy Metal in 2013.
He became the first black jockey to win the big race.
He had also won the Summer Cup (Wagner) and Champions Challenge (Heavy Metal) that season and when he completed the big race treble by winning the July his confidence soared.
Two weeks after the July, he rode the first five legs of the Pick 6 at Turffontein, including the Jackpot.
He went on to become the 2013/2014 national champion jockey, booting home 183 winners.
He set a personal best 198 the following season when finishing second in the championship to Gavin Lerena in the 2014/2015 championship.
He then won the championship for a second time in 2015/2016 with 243 wins.
Year’s ending in three have been memorable for Khumalo during his career so far.
His first ever winner was in 2003.
His first July win was in 2013.
Will 2023 bring a third July win for both Khumalo and Tarry?
The Duke Of Marmalade filly Rain In Holland has won eleven of her 21 races and has won a Gr 1 as a two-year-old, as a three-year-old and as a four-year-old.
She also landed the Wilgerbosdrift Triple Tiara.
As far as weight carrying feats go, she can follow in the footseteps of the first filly to ever win the Triple Tiara, Igugu.
No female has ever carried as big a weight to July victory as that which Rain In Holland is being asked to carry, i.e. 56.5kg.
However, Igugu pulled off a bigger weight carrying feat than that, because she was only a three-year-old when carrying 55kg to victory in the 2011 July.
As the weight for age allowance for three-year-olds is 2kg on July day, Igugu’s feat was the equivalent of an older filly carrying 57kg.
The two fillies have one other thing in common: Both of their sires, the immortal Galileo and the five-times Gr 1-winner Duke Of Marmalade, won Britain’s most prestigious open weight for age race, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
Rain In Holland is currently a 25/2 shot with the sponsor.
