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Ilha Bela, second favourite for Saturday's G1 Durban July at Greyville, is out to become only the fifth three-year-old filly to win since the race it was first run in 1897.
Fillies or mares have won the Durban July on 13 occasions, most recently last year when Ilha Bela's trainer Mike De Kock struck for the second time with a three-year-old filly Igugu. He had won the race in 2002 with another filly Ipi Tombe, the first of his four winners in the last decade.
Ilha Bela is the only filly in this year's race and there are only two other female runners – the four-year-old Beach Beauty and five-year-old mare Gorongosa.
Other important Durban July statistics:-
BARRIERS
The good news for the supporters of the favourite Jackson is that wide draws are not insurmountable.
Six runners drawn on the extreme outside of the field have won since 1917 in field sizes of 17 up to 22 runners.
Barrier 10 has been lucky in recent years with two of the last three winners, ill-fated Big City Life in 2009 and Igugu in 2011 winning from that berth.
JOCKEYS
Anthony Delpech and Anton Marcus share top honours in the Durban July in recent years, having ridden four winners each.
Delpech, who will partner second favourite Ilha Bela in Saturday's big race, has previously won aboard Classic Flag (1998), Greys Inn (2004), Bold Silvano (2010) and Igugu (2011).
Marcus, who will ride Vettel, first won the race on Dancing Duel (1993) followed by El Pica (2000), Dunford (2005) and Hunting Tower (2007).
TRAINERS
Terrance Millard, noiw based in Hong Kong, won the race seven times from 1983 to 1993.
In more recent times, Mike de Kock has won the Durban July four times and Mike Bass three times.
De Kock has four runners this year, Solo Traveller, Vettel, Gorongosa and Ilha Bela. Bass is three-handed with Castlethorpe, Chesalon and English Garden.
AGE
Four-year-olds have an outstanding record in the Vodacom Durban July with horses from that age group having captured the event 42 times.
Three-year-olds have won 32 times, while five-year-olds have 25 victories to their credit.
Three-year-olds have been the most successful age group in more recent years with nearly 60% of their 30 wins having come in the last 20 years. By comparison only 25% of the victories by four-year-olds have been achieved in the last 20 years.
There are seven three-year-olds in this year's race and nine four-year-olds.
WEIGHT
The lightest weight of 38,5kg was carried to victory by Nymagee in 1904 and Margin in 1916. The heaviest weight, 66kg, was carried to victory by Campanajo in 1898.
Since the distance of the race changed to 2200m in 1970 only seven horses carrying 55kg or more have won, but it must be noted that the bottom weight for handicaps was raised 2kg in 2010, bringing the bottom weight up from 50kg to 52kg.
The highest winning weight since 1970 is 58kg carried by El Picha in 2000 and Pocket Power in 2008.
