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Leading trainer Justin Snaith remains bullish about his Durban July prospects despite mixed barrier draw fortunes for his two contenders, the ruling favourite Legislate and outstanding filly In The Fast Lane.
Legislate drew gate 14 but will come into 11 if the reserve runners miss out. In The Fast Lane drew four but will come into three.
Snaith also the first reserve Readytogorightnow, drawn in gate one.Legislate had gate 11 when he won the G1 Daily News 2000 but next Saturday’s July is a bigger and better field and will be the first run on a narrower track than past years.
His jockey Richard Fourie resumed riding last week after recovering from injuries suffered in a fall n the G1 Rising Sun Gold Challenge.Regarding the July he said: “When Legislate won the KRA Guineas I knew that he was the horse I wanted to ride in the July. But, if he wasn’t running, I would want to be on In The Fast Lane.
“She has a big chance at the weights.’’Snaith said Legislate had been doing well but admitted “It has been a long wait.’’
In The Fast Lane will be ridden by Grant van Niekerk, stable jockey to Mike Bass and unlucky not to have won the July two years ago on Smanjemanje.The July runner creating the most debate is the Brett Crawford-trained three-year-old Futura, who has a huge reputation but made the field ahead of others who had higher merit ratings.
Glen Hatt has taken the ride on Futura over the more experience Captain America, who will now be the mount of Sean Cormack.Futura has only 53kg from gate three and adds to the view that this will be the year of the three-year-olds as he is among five of the age group heading the early betting.
Legislate is followed in the betting by the Geoff Woodruff-trained pair Rake’s Chestnut and Louis The King.Anton Marcus rides Rake’s Chestnut, a short head runner-up to Legislate in the Daily News 2000. This time he gets 1.5kg from the favourite and will jump from barrier 5.
Triple Crown winner Louis The King, third inm the Daily Nedws 2000, has drawn 10 but will come into 8 without the reserves with Kevin Shea as his rider.Woodruff, a two-time Durban July winner with El Picha in 1999 and 2000, is happy with the preparations of his pair but stil rates Legislate as the horse to beat.
He anticipates Louis The King will improve on his Daily News 2000 third when making his first appearance at Greyville.He raced awkwardly but still managed to produce the fastest closing 400m time of the day.
Another dual Durban July winning-trainer Dean Kannemeyer has declared blinkers for his triple G1 winner Capetown Noir, drawn 15 with Karl Neisus as his rider.“He has been tending to duck in behind horses so we are putting the blinkers on,” Kannemeyer reported.
BETTING: 4-1 Legislate, 5-1 Rake`s Chestnut, 6-1 Louis The King, Futura, 8-1 Espumanti, 10-1 Captain America, 12-1 Capetown Noir, In The Fast Lane, 14-1 King Of Pain, 20-1 Cherry On The Top, 25-1 Whiteline Fever, Punta Arenas, Halve The Deficit, 33-1 Tellina, 40-1 Wylie Hall, 66-1 Jet Belle.
VODACOM DURBAN JULY – Greyville July 5
Group 1 R3.5 million 2200m
No DRAW HORSE WGT JOCKEY/TRAINER
1 (13) KING OF PAIN 60.0 B Fayd'Herbe/Joey Ramsden
2 (15) CAPETOWN NOIR 59.0 K Neisius/Dean Kannemeyer
3 (18) TELLINA 58.0 G Lerena/Geoff Woodruff
4 (7) WHITELINE FEVER 58.0 S Khumalo/Sean Tarry
5 (8) WYLIE HALL 57.5 MJ Byleveld/Weiho Marwing
6 (2) ESPUMANTI 57.0 A Delpech/Mike de Kock
7 (16) PUNTA ARENAS 57.0 S Randolph/Stan Elley
8 (17) CHERRY ON THE TOP 56.5 W Marwing/Ormond Ferraris
9 (14) LEGISLATE 56.0 R Fourie/Justin Snaith
10 (10) LOUIS THE KING 55.5 K Shea/Geoff Woodruff
11 (5) RAKE'S CHESTNUT 55.5 A Marcus/Geoff Woodruff
12 (9) HALVE THE DEFICIT 55.0 P Strydom/Sean Tarry
13 (19) JET BELLE 54.5 M Yeni/Glen Kotzen
14 (11) CAPTAIN AMERICA 54.0 S Cormack/Brett Crawford
15 (4) IN THE FAST LANE 54.0 G van Niekerk/Justin Snaith
16 (3) FUTURA 53.0 G Hatt/Brett Crawford
Reserves
17 (1) READYTOGORIGHTNOW 54.0 Justin Snaith
18 (6) POMODORO 55.5 Sean Tarry
19 (12) MASTER SABINA 53.0 Geoff Woodruff
20 (20) DYLAN'S PROMISE 53.0 Charles Laird
