With just 27 days to go to the big race, there were no real fireworks from the quartet of Hollywoodbets Durban July entries who lined up in Sunday’s R250 000 Gr3 Jubilee Stakes at Turffontein.
A traditional last chance saloon for Highveld-based big race hopes, all four of the current entries participating failed to fire with Pomodoro’s Jet (2,25 lengths), Indian Ocean (3 lengths), Purple Pitcher (4,75 lengths) and Pyromaniac (7,50 lengths) not raising the rafters.
Muzi Yeni has Meridius in the right place at the right time! (Pic – JC Photos)
On the flipside, Tony Peter’s impressive winner Meridius could be a name to pop up when the Hollywoodbets Durban July final supplementary entries gate shuts at 11h00 on Tuesday 18 June.
The 4yo son of Canford Cliffs, who won the Listed Darley Arabian in his first start for the Peter yard on Hollywoodbets Durban July day last year, didn’t put a foot wrong under the revitalized Muzi Yeni, when he burst through late at 17-2 to beat the improved again Atticus Finch (25-2) by 0,70 lengths in a time of 100,49 secs.
Stablemate to the winner, Son Of Raj (20-1) also upped his game to run third, with Candice Dawson’s staunch Flower Alley mare Perfect Witness (25-2) closing off the quartet, 1,75 lengths off the winner.
Sadly Mike de Kock’s imported stallion prospect Mujbar went wrong in running.
Raced by Faizal Vahab and the River Palace Racing Syndicate, Meridius has now won 6 races with 12 places from 24 starts for stakes of R706 875.
Bred by the Stellenbosch-based Winterbach Stud, the winner is a son of Ridgemont’s high quality five-time Gr1 winning stallion Canford Cliffs (Tagula) out of the five-time winning Parade Leader mare Zili.
The final Hollywoodbets Durban July log is due this week. After a busy weekend, it could make for interesting reading.
