Star Major’s win in the Gr 1 Daily News 2000 has seen him go top of the log (Picture: Race Coast)
The Gr 1 Daily News 2000 winner Star Major is top of the second Hollywoodbets Durban July Log and must have trainer James Crawford dreaming of more July glory.
The final field panel of experts, who decide the log are:
Chairman: Raf Sheik – Race Coast
Aveen Sewpersad – Race Coast
Kurt Felix – Race Coast
Lennon Maharaj – NHA Chief Handicapper
Gabriel Soma – 4Racing
Luciano Passerini – 4Racing
James Crawford was assistant to his father Brett when the latter won two Julys in succession with Winchester Mansion and Oriental Charm in 2023 and 2024 respectively.
He played a big part in those victories as he looked after the Randjesfontein yard from where their July preparations were done and he now has the opportunity to win the big race in his own name with Star Major.
The Querari three-year-old is still an entire, but is nevertheless still improving continuously.
As a Gr 1 winner he has a higher profile than Oriental Charm had. The latter was nevertheless a progressive three-year-old as well.
Also in dreamland will be French jockey Mickaelle Michel, who could never have believed she would be associated with a July favourite just six months after venturing out here with the very purpose of winning Gr 1 races abroad.
She became only the second woman in SA history to win a Gr 1 when Star Major ran on strongly to land the Daily News 2000.
The next three positions in the log are occupied by fillies, the dual Gr 1-winning Cape three-year-old Wish List, the Gr 1 Betway Summer Cup winner Mocha Blend, who is a local hope, and the Highveld’s Gr 1-winning heroine Hazy Dazy.
Legal Counsel and Gladatorian ran second and third in Saturday’s Gr 1 Hollywoodbets Gold Challenge and are the next two in line.
The two supplementary entries Zeitz and Aladdin’s Lamp have entered the log in positions 13 and 19 respectively off their 110 merit ratings.
The make up of the log is sure to attract discussion, although the methodology used by the panelists can be read towards the bottom of this article after some of the speculating.
How Hazy Dazy went from 14th on the log to 4th is going to be a tad confusing to many as she was well beaten in her only run since the first log came out in the Gr 1 Daily News 2000.
However, the two newest members of the final field panel of experts, Gabriel Soma and Luciano Passerini, both from 4Racing, were not present when the first log was constructed.
Mocha Blend, who won Johannesburg’s traditional greatest race, has risen 12 places despite having only having had one unplaced run since the first log came out.
However, it is splitting hairs to question such rises, because both fillies have done enough to be virtual certainties for the final field.
The contentious positions are always the ones at the foot of the log and those who are in the group on the outside looking in.
The relatively highly rated pair Shoot The Rapids and Holding Thumbs are both in the outside-looking-in group and it is probably based on their best performances being over further than the July trip of 2200m.
However, the 119-rated Holding Thumbs was only a shorthead behind My Best Shot in the Algoa Cup over 200m when receiving just half-a-kilogram and the latter made the July field last year.
The 117-rated Shoot The Rapids was a 1,60 second in the Listed Sledgehammer over 1750m, before running second in the Gr 3 Gold Bowl over 3200m, and he gave I Salute You 2.5kg and a 2,15 length beating in the Sledgehammer.
Yet the 113-rated I Salute You is in a comfortable 15th place on the log. However, he deserves to be because he finished second in the Gr 3 Anthonij Rupert Premier Trophy over 1800m, beaten just two lengths at level weights by Okavango, and he also finished second in Saturday’s Gr 3 Betgames Cup Trial over 1800m,
Regulation is only merit rated 106 and is in 20th place on the log, but he did run above that rating when third in the Premier Trophy. Bad luck is probably not considered when structuring the log, but it has to be said Regulation is clearly a better horse than his merit rating and form suggests as his last three runs have just not panned out well and yet he was still third and second respectively in the first two of them (the Premier Trophy and the WSB 1900). He beat the like of log incumbents Zeitz and Native Ruler at level weights in the Premier Trophy.
Shoot The Rapids and Holding Thumbs both get a chance to prove a point in the Gr 3 Lucky Fish Winter Stakes over 2400m at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Saturday.
The above is all just speculating, because in the spirit of transparency the methodology used by the panelists has been shared:
It should be borne in mind that there are a number of key considerations for determining rankings, including official merit ratings, and in the spirit of transparency, the following should be noted:
- Where an entry has been selected by all panel members, that individual is on the log. In this instance, there were 16 entries which received 5/5 votes.
- Entries with a 4/5 vote are next.
- Where there are multiple 4/5 entries, but still in the top 18, then they are included.
- In this instance, there were 3 entries with 4/5 votes vying for the next 2 places in the 18 horse field.
- The next weighting is a Grade 1 win. Hazy Dazy qualifies and she receives the 17th slot. (Editor – in the official log she appears to be 4th?)
- Then we have Grade 1 placed. Minogue filled the 18th slot.
- The next benchmark would be a Grade 2 win and Grade 2 placed.
- Then follows a Grade 3 victory – this brings Aladdin’s Lamp into 19 on the log.
- We then have entries that received 3/5 votes and, where necessary, the ranking is based on the individual’s best Graded performance.
- In this application of the criteria, where we had two entries with 3/5 votes, Regulation was placed in a Grade 2, which trumps Holding Thumbs victory in a Grade 3.
The log is an important part of the Hollywoodbets Durban July and adds to the drama and the tension as the announcement of the final field approaches.
The 2026 Hollywoodbets Durban July timeline:
• Final supplementary entries: 11h00 Monday 15 June
• Weights: Monday 15 June
• Final declarations: 11h00 Monday 22 June
• Final field & draws: Tuesday 23 June
• Public gallops: Thursday 25 June
General admission entrance tickets are on sale via Ticketpro (www.ticketpro.co.za).
All the event and racing information is available on www.hollywoodbetsdurbanjuly.co.za.
