Matthew Lips When asked about his most memorable July, he said it was a toss-up between London News in 1996, who was one of the shortest priced favourites to win the prestigious race in a long time. The other was Flaming Rock in 1990, who won from the widest draw of 20. He raced wide and came down the outside rail on his own and won the race. He had cracking form, but the wide draw was an issue. These days Matthew is a handicapper and he is enjoying every moment of it. From a handicappers point of view JACKSON is the right horse as he is 2kgs better off, he should in actual fact be carrying 59kgs. He is perfectly suited to the July.
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| 1996 Durban July Winner London News |
Patrick Lunn He is based at Clairwood and has always been a KZN trainer to this day. His most memorable July was 1987 when the great Model Man ran second to Bush Telegraph. “Model Man was the best horse I have ever trained. He wasn’t given the best ride in the race as he had a good draw but found himself off the pace. The winner carried a mere 49kgs and my horse had 57kgs on his back. We were unlucky not to win.” My selection for this year’s race is JACKSON.
Dave Scott When asked, Dave said he had two memorable July’s with Flaming Rock and Igugu. With the former he made lots of money by taking doubles into the July with his long-time friend and bookie, Louis Eerenstien. Igugu was a sensational winner of last years July and Dave made a killing once again. Dave runs the forum WWW.AFRICANBETTINGCLAN.CO.ZA and he says that he usually has a good idea by this time on who he fancies for the big race. Selections - 1. ILHA BELA 2. JACKSON
Jimmy LithgowMy most memorable July? Wow!! It was probably in 1989, the year I started working as Marketing Manager for the Durban Turf Club. The heavens opened on the morning of that July and the race almost had to be postponed till the next week, but the Stewards decided to try and let the track dry out and stage the July as the first race of the day. Half way through the day, the Chairman, Hugh “Jerkie” Johnston, decided to undertake a walking tour of the main straight, to personally test the underfoot conditions. It was as soggy as hell and I can remember my rather zootie blue shoes, chosen to go with a hideous blue suit – very fashionable at the time – begin to steadily disintegrate as we neared the finishing post. The winner was a horse trained by Terrance Millard, a three-year-old grey called Right Prerogative, who was killed en route back to the Cape, at the end of the season, when a float containing Millard’s horses overturned somewhere in the Karoo. The great Olympic Duel was one of the few survivors but quite a few really good horses were killed.
Another memory was of that 1991 July, when, after Flaming Rock had just got up to defeat Al Mufti and Rakeen, the horse almost collapsed from exhaustion in the unsaddling ring and couldn’t even be led in. It was the first time in the history of the race that there wasn’t a victory canter, with the sash, after the race.
As far as my bet is concerned, I think Jackson will win, despite the weight and the draw, as he looks like Usain Bolt against the best that a local high school can muster, when it comes to physical stature, but if there is to be an upset than I think that Sage Throne might provide it.
Robbie Hill
When asked, Robbie said, El Picha in 1999. Going into the race he was at the best he had ever been. I was very confident going into the race. We drew badly, but on the day it worked in our favour as the track was cut up badly on the inside. The first three runners past the post raced wide around the turn. I knew I was going to win from the 600m mark as I had so much horse under me. These days Robbie is a jockey’s agent and he believes that this years July winner should be JACKSON and his biggest danger will be PIERRE JOURDAN.
Bartie Leisher Bartie does some farming with cattle, vegetables and fruit. He still follows racing and when asked about his most memorable July he had this to say - “The July I won will always be special, but the one I will never forget was in 1982 when I ran an unlucky second behind Jamaican Rumba with Sweet Wonder. He was running on and as we were coming through to win the race, for no apparent reason, Sweet Wonder tried to bite the eventual winner of the race. That is one July I will never forget.” Bartie is confident that JACKSON will win the 2012 July.
Peter Kannemeyer The legendary Peter Kannemeyer who was a jockey for 20 years and a trainer for 40 years, had this to say about his most memorable July. “It has to be Over The Air as it was the first time I won the July. Back in those days it was a huge feat to win the July when you beat the likes of Terrance Millard and Cookie Amos. Terrance said to me one day, “If you give a good horse to Cookie Amos, he will turn it into a great horse.” These days Peter is enjoying retirement, but he keeps an eye on racing. He only likes one horse for the July this year and that is JACKSON.
Terrance Millard He said the best horse he has ever trained has to be Empress Club, even though she never won a July. Terrance has recently been very sick and was in hospital for a month. He thankfully made a good recovery. He still has some horses and follows racing closely. His take on this years July is that it is an open affair and it wouldn’t surprise him to see a big upset come 7 July 2012.
Michael ‘Muis’ Roberts When the KZN trainer was asked about his July he had an interesting story about how he ended up getting the ride on the winner Super Quality in 1997. Muis was riding in the UK at the time and he had to fly in for July day. First he was booked to ride North By Northwest. He won the Daily News very well and was priced up as favourite after he won. Weichong Marwing the stable jockey for the Ferraris yard opted to ride the favourite. “When I got into the parade ring I saw Super Quality looked like a little pony. The last 100m was in slow-motion as I hit the front and I kept thinking something was going to fly up and catch us. It was my happiest moment in racing.” In this year’s July I feel the race is between two runners. They are JACKSON and PIERRE JOURDAN.
Robbie Thompson
When we asked former jockey, Robbie about his most memorable July he said it has to be Principle Boy. He was promoted to first after an objection was lodged by the third placed runner Distinctly. This was against the original winner Gatecrasher. Principle Boy originally ran second. Gatecrasher was demoted to third. Robbie makes racing equipment for jockeys and is still very much involved in the racing game. He fancies JACKSON very strongly.
Garth Puller Forms part of Puller racing and is sponsored by HOLLYWOODBETS.NET. His most memorable July was when he won on Bush Telegraph. “I had to take off 10kgs to make the weight. He had a virus before the Guineas and had to be scratched. The first time he went over ground was in the Daily News when he won the race by over a length. To lose the weight I only ate cooked brown rice and stewed apples. I was just skin and bone but I was super fit. This was a great feat for me as I will never forget winning the race and what I had to do to make the weight on Bush Telegraph.” He fancies four horses in no particular order, ENGLISH GARDEN, JACKSON, TOP SELLER and VETTEL.
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Vivid memories of the 1975 July. Never seen such blatant interference in a race - much less a G1. Oppenheimer horse Principal Boy minding his own business on inside fence gets promoted to first. As an Aussie living within walking distance of Greyville, I backed Muis on NZ bred star Sledgehammer. But they finished down the track.
ReplyDeleteWe watch South African racing every night on Sky Channel - can't believe they're selling Clairwood.
Thanks for the memories Karl - lets hope we don't have a similar situation in this year's July - an objection is always a dampener on proceedings! Pity about Clairwood being sold, remember going there as a kid, and I think its a great course. One can only hope that the money they get for it is invested wisely into Greyville!
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