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In remarkable finish the result of the R3.5m, Group 1 Vodacom Durban July (2200m) at Greyville on Saturday was decided in the stewards’ room for second year running.
This was with eventually first past the line Power King, ridden by Stuart Randolph and trained by Dean Kannemeyer, getting the clearance to retain his place.
Last year Wylie Hill (AUS) lost the race to Legislate on protest after a long wait, but this year after a similar long wait the result stood with outsider Power King (53kg) winning over Punta Arenas (54.4kg) and Ian Sturgeon with Tellina (54kg) and Johnny Geroudis third.
The margins were 3/4L and 1/2L with the time on the Good rated track 2.15.17. Power King paid $21.20 on STAB and $26.00 on fixed odds.
Power King and Punta Arenas raced together on the outside of the track and they had a significant bump inside the last 150m. Power King went sideways with his hind legs nearly out from underneath him, but as Randolph said he picked himself up and forged on to the line.
It was that ability to start again and go away from Punta Arenas that confirmed with the stewards’ that he was the clear winner of the race with the outside horse making the move inside.
“He is a courageous horse. I was following the favourite ($4.80 Legal Eagle) into the straight and as I switched him out for his clear run I could feel that when he turned it on nothing was going to get to him,” said Randolph who previously had a record of five fifth places in the July.
“I could see a horse on my outside but I could feel that I always had the better of him. It was about 150m out when he got that second challenge. He became unbalanced and I had to get him balanced up again. It was a bit of a heart stop there, but he picked himself up and fought on to the line.
“He is a very special individual now,” he said.
Randolph said that the closest that Punta Arenas got to Power Point was alongside his flank.
“Watching the head-on he shifted onto me two times. It is a tribute to the horse that he picked himself up and went through to the line. To take a bump like that at a critical part of the race is testament to what an animal he is.
“The funny thing is that I never felt like I was in danger of getting beat, even after the bump,” he said.
The win will prove costly for Randolph however, as just inside the 200m he and Power King came out from the middle of the field towards the outside causing severe interference to Legal Eagle, French Navy and Gold Onyx (NZ). It put paid to their chances with Legal Eagle finishing fifth and French Navy sixth with Gold Onyx further back.
Trainer Sean Tarry with five in the field had to watch his two smart three-year-old's Legal Eagle and French Navy having their chances stopped at a crucial time.
