Father and son commentary team, Craig and Sheldon Peters (Picture: Hollywoodbets)
Winter is approaching and in Durban that means the Hollywoodbets Durban July is just around the corner and two men who are always caught up in July fever are Craig and Sheldon Peters, the stalwart commentators who enthrall crowds with the excitement they manage to inject into the big race year after year.
Craig Peters is the most experienced Durban July commentator of all time and is in fact the most experienced horseracing commentator in South African history full stop. The 2025 Hollywoodbets Durban July will be his 39th July, which can be compared to Ernie Duffield’s 29 Julys. Craig has called over 25,000 races in South Africa, also a record.
In third place on the July list is Craig’s son Sheldon, who already has 23 July commentaries under the belt.
These days on July day Sheldon is the on course commentator and is also on the 4Racing, Gallop TV and DSTV feeds, while Craig is on the SABC feed.
Craig and Sheldon are passionate about the sport and have a wealth of memories, particularly about the country’s greatest race, the Hollywoodbets Durban July.
Craig recalled his first memory of the July, “My first recollections was back in the 1960s with Sea Cottage when he got shot three weeks before the July. I was about six or seven years old at the time and living in Mayfair, Johannesburg with my parents. We used to listen to the July commentary by Ernie Duffield on the radio and it was a sad day in 1966 when he ran fourth to Java Head (with the bullet still lodged in the soft flesh of his hindquarter). I remember shedding a lot of tears that day because he was such a great horse. They used to call him the immortal Sea Cottage. Then the next year he dead-heated with Jollify giving him 27 pounds. We listened to the commentary and it was extremely exciting, but Ernie Duffield gave the race to Jollify. He said, “I think Jollify might just have held on!” So we didn’t know and then Duffield had to cross back to the studio because the judges took a while. It was only sometime later on Pat Carr’s Forces Favourites program that we heard it was a dead-heat and I was absolutely elated. We saw the photo in the Stop Press and about two weeks later we watched the African Mirror footage of the race at the Drive-In. I remember also being at Sea Cottage’s last ever race, the Cutty Sark at Gosforth Park, which attracted a massive crowd. I watched by standing on the bonnet of my father’s car.”
Craig’s commentary career started in Johannesburg and he recalled, “I never thought it would happen and it was then a dream come true when I moved back to Durban in 1982 which gave me the opportunity to commentate on the July. My first July commentary was when Devon Air won in 1984, Terrance Millard and Felix Coetzee, it was an unbelievable experience. But then the great calls I remember are Pocket Power and Dancer’s Daughter dead-heating (2008) and I also enjoyed Flaming Rock (1991) coming from the absolute clouds and getting up on the last jump. But I think one of my best July commmentaries was Illustrador (1990). I called it on course and the crowds went berserk with the raise of my voice tone at the top of the straight. In the July the crowd are with you and they hang on to every single word you say.”
Most of the crowd’s money would have been on Illustrador, the Terrance Millard-trained favourite, and few who were there will ever forget Craig’s words just after they had turned for home.
He was rattling off through the field in a rising tone as they fanned off the false rail when suddenly his tone changed and his voice echoed around the course, “… BUT … ILLUSTRADOR!!!”
In those days when there was no video footage in the off course “rooms” punters relied on the commentaries and Craig was a favourite due to the excitement he was able to generate with his changes of tone. His style had the same effect on the on course punters. As he never got it wrong when emphasising a horse’s name and seldom got a photo finish wrong he acquired the nickname “Eagle Eye”.
Illustrador duly stormed into the lead and with a delirious crowd roaring him home he won by 1,30 lengths from his two stablemates Olympic Duel and Jungle Warrior.
Craig sees a bright future for the July and KZN racing.
He said, “It’s great now that Hollywood have taken over the sponsorship, it’s going from strength to strength and as you can see every year there is a big improvement and the crowds are with it. It’s absolutely phenomenal and I’m really enjoying it.”
An indication of how good a commentator Sheldon Peters is can be gleaned from his first July in 2002. He was the youngest to ever call the great race, being in his early twenties, and there was only 0,4 lengths separating the first six home. However, his voice never faltered and he picked out the winner Ipi Tombe for special emphasis in the closing stages.
It is hard to fathom how a commentator handles such situations but on getting that one right Sheldon said, “Born and bred!”
He added, “The adrenaline pumps so much, the nerves start to settle, but once the gates open you basically just fire away.”
He said about his first July recollection, “I was about ten or eleven when Flaming Rock won (1991), it was my first taste of the July, and then the first time I was on course was when Surfing Home won (1994) but lost on objection … Space Walk was declared the winner. My best July was when Dynasty won (2003).”
He said about the experience of his first July commentary, “It was a dream in a million. Obviously as a commentator you want to call the biggest race in the country, and one of the biggest races in the world, and with the crowd on the course and everything it’s just a race of a lifetime.”
He added, “Dynasty (2003) and Eyeofthetiger (2006) were my favourite calls. Both horses were owned by Field Spring Racing and trained by Dean Kannemeyer.”
One of his most famous calls was when Do It Again became the sixth horse in July history to win the big race twice and the fifth to do it twice in succession.
As the big horse approached the line Sheldon called, with impeccable timing, “… and he will DO IT AGAIN!!!”
Those words are also now part of July folklore.
The Peters father and son combination are the voices of the July and it seems the only person who could possibly ever break Craig’s record is Sheldon.
