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Australian-bred filly Majmu will bid to land a third G1 win when she takes on South Africa’s most famous and richest race, the R3.5 million Durban July at Greyville on Saturday.
The Mike De Kock-trained filly, a winner of six of her eight career starts to date, took out the G1 Empress Club Stakes (1600m) in April before finishing second in the G1 Presidents Champions Challenge behind Durban July (2200m) rival Wylie Hall.
The Sheikh Hamdan owned Majmu and the year older Wylie Hall are both Australian-breds by champion sire Redoute’s Choice.Angus Gold, Sheikh Hamdan’s racing manager, said Majmu is in good order and has shown no ill effects resulting from the temperature that forced her to miss the G1 Woolavington Stakes (2000m) at Greyville last month.
“Mike is very happy with her,” Gold told ANZ News. “It seems a pity she could not run the other day but she just spiked a temperature for 24 hours for some reason.”Majmu will be ridden by Anthony Delpech, who was won the Durban July four times. She carries 55kg from the inside barrier in the 18-horse field.
“She certainly has plenty of weight being a three-year-old filly so she is going to have to be at her very best to win,” Gold said.“Everything has gone well in the last few weeks and we hope she will give a good account of herself.”
Majmu has already racked up prize money totalling R2,295,000 ($A245,000) since she was purchased for $A300,000 from the Arrowfield Stud draft at the 2013 InglisAustralian Easter Yearling Sale.
Thius wil be the final race for Wylie Hall before retiring to Cheveley Stud Farm.Lonhro gelding The Conglomerate, to line up for trainer Joey Ramsden, will be ridden by Chad Schofield, who travelled to South Africa from England on Wednesday.
It will be the first time Schofield, who was last month handed a three-month Hong Kong riding licence, has ridden in the country of his birth.Schofield will receive plenty of advice from his Sydney-based jockey father Glyn, who was based in Durban before moving to Australia in 2007.
Schofield landed the ride on The Conglomnerate due to the lack of lightweight jockeys in South Africa.“It is becoming increasingly difficult to find lightweight jockeys these days,” Ramsden said. “Connections considered a number of options and the decision to go with Chad is not one that was taken lightly.
“The Conglomerate has been doing really well now. He had a break after finishing third in the Daily News 2000 and is peaking at the right time.”Another Australian-bred filly Tamaanee has won three of her 10 starts in South Africa for trainer Sean Tarry including the G2 Gerald Rosenberg Stakes at Turffontein and was third behind Marmu in the Empress Club Stakes.
The G1-winning New Zealand-bred Gold Onyx also features among the runners for Tarry.Gold Onyx has been an extremely consistent performer at the top level but has not won since October 2013.
Legal Eagle, another from the Sean Tarry stable, comes into the race as the favourite having won his last three starts in the Listed Derby Trial (2000m), G1 South African Derby (2450m) and G3 Jubilee Handicap (1800m).