The Cheveley Stud-bred Oriental Charm booked his Hollywoodbets Durban July berth with a powerful front-running display to win the R250 000 Hollywoodbets Dolphins Gr3 Cup Trial at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Saturday.
Oriental Charm (JP van der Merwe) books his Hollywoodbets Durban July berth (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
The lightly raced 3yo lifted his game again after drifting off the boards, with JP van der Merwe riding a well-judged race for the Brett Crawford Racing Team.
In a field that included eight Hollywoodbets Durban July entries, Oriental Charm (7-1) showed that he had improved post his WSB Gr2 1900 runner-up finish a month ago, and kept at his task all the way to beat Shoemaker (7-1) by 1,20 lengths in a time of 110,42 secs for the 1800m.
Michael Miller’s improved 4yo Narina Trogon (14-1) stayed on well for third, 0,40 back, with Kannemeyer’s Ponte Pietra (15-2) completing a quartet of Hollywoodbets Durban July hopefuls.
Winning rider JP van der Merwe thanked colleague Kabelo Matsunyane for the hard work, and said that he had broken positively from the wide draw and nobody challenged him early.
A R375 000 National Yearling Sale graduate, Oriental Charm, who races for Greg Bortz, Leon Ellman and Gina Goldsmith, has now won 3 races with 2 places from 9 starts and stakes of R 544 376.
The Cheveley Stud-bred colt is a son of Vercingetorix (Silvano) out of the three-time winning Greys Inn mare, Souk.
Final supplementary entries for the Hollywoodbets Durban July close at 11h00 on Tuesday 18 June, whereafter the weights will be published.
Final declarations are due by 11h00 on Monday 24 June.
