The first local horse in 21 years to run in Africa’s greatest race is ready to give it his best shot!
My Best Shot, trained by the East Cape champion Alan Greeff, takes his place in the 129th renewal of the R5 million Hollywoodbets Durban July on Saturday.
The last Gqeberha-trained horse to run in the July was Shoes of Silver from the Gavin Smith stable in 2004.
Shoes of Silver wasn’t disgraced at all when, as a 100/1 shot, he finished midfield. Bold Silvano, which was locally bred at Ascot Stud, started his career with Smith, but was in the care of Gauteng conditioner, Mike de Kock, when he won the July in 2010.
The local racing fraternity is super excited to see what My Best Shot can do and will be gathering at the Fairview track in Greenbushes on Saturday to support their champion.
Racing fans can join them to follow the July meeting from 10:00, when food, bar and totalisator facilities will be available. There are 18 runners in this prestigious race over 2200m. My Best Shot will carry saddle cloth number 9 with Chase Maujean in the saddle.
Greeff has been the East Cape champion trainer 16 times already and has won big races all over the country since he became a trainer in 1995. He has never saddled a July runner, though, and this will be a wonderful milestone.
My Best Shot’s regular jockey, Richard Fourie, has opted to ride Eight on Eighteen, trained by the national champion, Justin Snaith, in the Western Cape. Eight on Eighteen is the favourite to win the race.
The July meeting consists of 12 races. The first race is at 11:45, the July is race seven at 16:00, and the last race is off at 19:40. Punters will be particularly interested in the Pick Six (expected pool R15 million) and July Quartet (expected pool R10 million) bets on the national totalisator.
Two other Fairview stars, Anotherdanceforme (Greeff stable, race 5) and Cruise Control (Smith stable, race 9), will also be in action in big races in Durban. Anotherdanceforme runs in the Lady Slipper and Cruise Control in the Post Merchants.
There is another East Cape connection on the big day. The Gqeberha-born and raised Zolani Mahola will sing the national anthem in front of a capacity crowd of about 45 000.
Mahola grew up in New Brighton. She was the lead singer for the popular band Freshlyground before embarking on a solo career in 2019.
Before we get to Saturday’s meeting, there are two action-packed local meetings to keep an eye on.
Both these meetings, today and on Friday, are on the Fairview Polytrack. Today’s meeting starts at 12:30. The Walmer Handicap is the feature race on Friday.
You can watch the July on SABC, SuperSport, Dstv channel 240, and free streaming is on GallopTV.co.za. Get your tips on the Facebook page Henk Se Wenk.
