Note To Self will be among Justin Snaith’s Hollywoodbets Durban July entries and this big, progressive three-year-old will be the fancy of more than a few (Picture: Wayne Marks)
The first entries for the R10 million Hollywoodbets Durban July will be on Monday 20 April and the Justin Snaith yard have hinted they will have a big team targeting the country’s most famous and expensive race and could have as many as ten entries.
The following horses will likely be among the entries.
Eight On Eighteen – he was favourite and runner up last year, but he was comfortably the best performed horses in the race as he carried 57kg as a three-year-old and was 2,5kg worse off than weight for age with the winner The Real Prince, but only lost to him by 0,25 lengths. He was not himself during the Cape Summer, so his first race of the Champions Season will be eagerly watched to see if he has bounced back to his best. He is rated 129 and as things stand will carry 61,5kg.
See It Again – coincidentally he was also beaten by 0,25 lengths as a three-year-old when carrying 56,5kg and was the best performed horse in the race. Since joining the Snaith yard he has been a 0,25 length third in the Gr 1 wfa L’Ormarins King’s Plate over 1600m, he won the Gr 1 wfa WSB Met over 2000m, he was a 3,75 length second in the Gr 1 wfa Wilgerbosdrift HF Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut Stakes over 1600m and he won the Gr 1 World Pool Premier’s Champions Challenge over 2000m. He is a four times Gr 1 winner, all over 2000m, and at the age of six is the highest rated middle distance horse in the country on 130, so will likely have to carry topweight of 62kg, which will not be an easy task at all.
Wish List – This dual Gr 1 winner of the Cartier Paddock Stakes and Lucky Fish Cape Derby should enjoy the trip and has a good turn of foot. As things stand she will carry 53,5kg, so she will be a big runner.
Okavango – is a progressive sort and was raised two points to 125 after his 0,60 length second to See It Again in the World Pool Premier’s Champions Challenge. He will carry 59,5kg as things stand and will be a big runner as he is weighted to beat See It Again on that last meeting.
Note To Self – has caught the eye in no uncertain terms in his last two starts, displaying a massive stride and a good turn of foot. As things stand he will be carrying 54kg off his 118 rating, but he is still improving and that can be seen both visually and through his pedigree as his sire Futura’s progeny tend to get better with age. The path this exciting prospect takes into the big race will be crucial, because winning races like the Gr 1 Daily News 2000 will see his merit rating being raised.
Legal Counsel stayed on remarkably well in the L’Ormarins King’s Plate considering he was one of the horses who went too fast and he then proved that sectional times do not lie by running second in the WSB Met. He will carry 61kg off his 128 rating as things stand and both See It Again and Okavango have franked the WSB Met form, so he is one of the dark horses.
Happy Verse has always been an eyecatcher, but he had no excuses in the Lucky Fish Cape Derby in which he was a 3,60 length fifth. He is rated 113, so will carry bottom weight of 52kg and will be half-a-kilogram under sufferance as things stand. However, he will be 1kg better off with Wish List for that 3,60 length beating and 2kg better off with Note To Self for a 2,85 length beating as things stand, so he is not out of it.
Native Ruler ran a fine 3,95 length sixth in last year’s Hollywoodbets Durban July and coming from the widest draw of all made it a particularly noteworthy performance. He finished just a shorthead behind Okavango in the WSB Met, so is one to watch this Champions Season, because if the latter has a chance then he must too considering that as things stand he will carry 58,5kg and will receive 1kg from Okavango.
Regulation was an entry last year, but having won well when stepped up to 1900m at Hollywoodbets Greyville, albeit off a mere 88 rating, he disappointed with bottom weight in the Gr 3 Hollywoodbets Dolphins Cup Trial over 1800m. However, in his last three starts in Cape Town he has shown what the fuss was all about as he won a B Stakes race over 1800m by 4,50 lengths off a 93 rating, he then won the Gr 3 Ownpay Peninsula Handicap over 1800m by a neck off a 99 rating and in his last start he finished a 2,75 length third to Okavango in the Gr 2 Anthonij Rupert Wyne Premier Trophy over 1800m at level weights. He is rated only 105 at present so as things stand will be way under sufferance but receiving 7,5kg from Okavango for a 2,75 length beating makes him a fascinating horse to follow for the Champions Season.
Great Plains has won twice at Hollywoodbets Greyville over 1400m and proved his class in last year’s Gr 2 IOS Drill Hall Stakes over that same course and distance when finishing a 0,30 length third to the winner Gladatorian and he was sandwiched in between See It Again and The Real Prince, facing all three of them on weight for age terms. The yard have hinted he will be tried over further this Champions Season and it will be interesting to see how he fares, although being by Danon Platina out of a Var mare and having never been tried over further than 1600m makes his current July pre-nomination odds of 67/1 too skinny if anything.
The first entries will be revealed next Wednesday and it will be interesting to see whether these ten are indeed there and whether there are any others from the Champion Trainer’s yard.
Justin will be out to join the legendary Terrance Millard on six wins of the country’s most iconic race and if he does it he will be just one behind the record seven of Hall Of Fame trainer Syd Laird.
