The 2011 renewal of the Vodacom Durban July has begun in controversy with ‘the Maestro’ Michael De Kock failing to nominate any of the stable’s plethora of stars for the gala event. His approach has thrown the ante-post market into turmoil but Holllywood has gone with the unique approach of opening a book on the original 43 first nominations only. Hollywood will maintain ante-post betting on this original book right through to the final acceptors and will pay out winning bets on the first horse of the original 43 to finish.
By way of example, should two supplementary entries run 1st and 2nd on ‘July’ day then Hollywood will pay the 3rd horse as the winner of the ‘First Nominations’ ante-post race. Place bets will follow the same principle. All ante-post betting rules apply.
Therefore, if and when de Kock and others add supplementary nominations to the field, Hollywood will open a separate ante-post book which will run parallel to the ‘first nominations’ book.
Hollywood has priced up Justin Snaith’s Run For It , who finished third in the J & B Met, as the 6/1 favourite. The very much in-formDancewiththedevil is at 10/1 alongside consistent Galileo’s Destiny and Bravura, who showed distinct signs during the Cape season that he can still be a major player in top races. There has already been some interest shown for unbeaten Royal Zulu Warrior, who hasshortened from 20/1 to 16/1, and for Cape raiders Castlethorpe (50/1 to 33/1) and In Writing (100/1 to 40/1).
