HOLLYWOODBETS DURBAN JULY FIRST ENTRIES

R10 million on offer for an average field baring maybe 5 runners with what will be at skewed weights.

If the Gold Challenge was the race of the year then what has happened to The July??? 

Personally i think that See It Again & The Real Prince adding the JHB races to their program has played a role. But then again the JHB features without them and DG SLAM would have been close to non-events. On one hand you have to applaud the owners and trainers but on the other is the current reality of SA Horseracing... not enough horses racing and a huge shortage of Grade 1 performers.

We have ourselves to blame, the conditions of the July are tinkered with and trainers and owners respond accordingly. Keep a 4yr old under the radar come in with a low weight and win. The new weight range will just cause more planning to beat the weights.

Either way, these changes will ensure The July will lose its Grade 1 status soon. Like it or not, The July is SA's biggest race, preserve it. Role players need to discuss the way forward and a huge purse just makes it look like a sales race rather than having the best rated horses in SA in the race.

Turning into the poorest July in history on paper

Too late to re-nominate Errol Flynn?
That would throw the cat among the pigeons...

King Pelles... Calvin Habib should take the ride. Then boom winner!!! 

zef wrote:

King Pelles... Calvin Habib should take the ride. Then boom winner!!! 

Nicolas Patel deserves the chance to ride this one 
 

If we take the first twenty horses in the betting and say that will be the final field, think the key to finding the winner, is to try and determine whether there will be a (decent) pace or not - if the latter, Wish List has won two races off very slow run races.

Most trainers/jockeys will tell you, it is difficult to quicken off a slow pace - Wish List has done it twice and will come in handily weighted.

Food for thought.

Watched the replay of Daily News 2000 a couple times now ,,won't surprise me if the same result in July ,although I'd swop the places on Happy Verse and note to self as Zac Lloyd should follow in his Dad's footsteps and run third  on Happy Verse 😁 

Jockeys so far . Regulation is an optimistic entry

To demostrate what i am saying, if you use/see the lengths behind (LBH) tool on Formgrids, Wish List's winning time would have her finish stone last in the Daily News race by 17.47 lengths behind the winner, Star Major over the same distance on the same day.

Is Star Major 17.47 lengths better than Wish List, i'm not convinced - not saying Star Major can't win, just think the pace of the race will determine the outcome of the race - can't see a pace maker.

Very stingy betting.

Minogue 50/1 not bad
Olivias way 66/1 also good value.

Elmo wrote:

Watched the replay of Daily News 2000 a couple times now ,,won't surprise me if the same result in July ,although I'd swop the places on Happy Verse and note to self as Zac Lloyd should follow in his Dad's footsteps and run third  on Happy Verse 😁 

This comment is not about ZAC LLOYD... But how poor South African jockeys are these days that a rider with no experience of the track can ride a strongly fancied runner in the race

20 years ago there would be 30 to 40 top jocks in the country fighting for a ride.. And not for just a ride in the July but any race on July day

Now we have bad punters/tipsters booking Jockeys rides

The Crawford yard must be faced with a conundrum, whether to stick with Mickaelle Michel, who has ridden Star Major to victory in the SA Guineas and Daily News 2000, or to switch to another/male jockey. Think she should keep the mount albeit the July is a rough race - can she come from the rear again, suppose the draw will dictate where Star Major slots in, in running..