SARAH WHITELAW: One thing seems to have been clearly established following the running of the July – it is difficult to see any horse other than Variety Club (Var) being named Horse of the Year.
ROBYN LOUW: The great and good that lit up the turf of yesteryear had been painstakingly brought back to life
SARAH WHITELAW: The subject of racehorses who have achieved long winning streaks has been much in the media of late
ROBYN LOUW: Every ‘July’ is an event and this year an unusually interesting and interconnected group of runners in this Durban July
SARAH WHITELAW: A view of interesting performing sire lines and mares around the world.
ROBYN LOUW: It’s supposed to be fun. It’s supposed to be frivolous. And entertaining and escapist. And all about the power and beauty of the horse.
SARAH WHITELAW: So how many other mares in history have produced as many as eight stakes winners? The small number of famous broodmares to produce as many as five stakes winners really puts into perspective the remarkable achievement
LANCE BENSON: The potential devastating implications for a trainer of horses being ‘got at’, particularly on the eve of major races, makes it astonishing that apparently so little attention is paid to the securing of stables. Are we sitting on a potential time-bomb?
ROBYN LOUW: The US industry is still reeling from the damning expose by the New York Times (Breakdown, Death & Disarray at America’s Racetracks)
SARAH WHITELAW: Ill-fated sire’s lasting legacy. There is a well accepted “fact” that when a sire dies, his progeny take off.
SARAH WHITELAW: William Bambiso is one of the Cape’s finest work riders, who is a talent to watch for the future.
The number of entries compares favourably in quantum with recent years, with 58 first entries received in 2024, 60 in 2023, 68 in 2022, 53 in 2021, 52 in 2020, 49 in 2019, and 69 in 2018
Ironically, it was a colt which provided Alan with a first Gr1 success, this being Alec and Gillian Foster’s homebred Cereus, who landed the 2001 Gold Cup at Hollywoodbets Greyville, his victory completing a momentous double on the day, with the Gr2 Golden Slipper having gone the way of juvenile filly Tatler, a great-great-great grandaughter of Sun Lass!
JP van der Merwe is not the only guilty party in the matter. In simple terms, he is the only rider to have exercised the NHA’s offer of an Acknowledgement Of Guilt and moved on with his life
Andrew Fortune made it three winners on the Family Day public holiday as Tenango breezed home to win the Gr3 feature
