Tarry & July – A King’s Ransom?

After Legal Eagle won the Gr1 Premier’s Champions Challenge a week ago, his trainer Sean Tarry expressed the opinion that his charge may give the Vodacom Durban July a miss. A wag suggested that Tarry is holding the July to ransom again, as he did with the previous July and Met.

‘Dirty Tarry’? Hardly!

That is of course nonsense – Mr Tarry is doing no such thing.

What in fact has happened, is that last year Legal Eagle managed to run in the July a few kilo’s lighter due to running a higher rating earned after the cut-off date for the July weights being finalised – and as has happened a few times before!

In the build-up to the J&B Met, in which Smart Call beat Legal Eagle, Tarry remained undecided for a while when he had both Legal Eagle and French Navy high up in the betting. That uncertainty possibly had the effect of stalling ante-post Met interest.

Again Tarry gets the hot seat, and it’s hotter than ever before!

The July is not a free standing handicap, it has various conditions which changes the  normal “what would have been” handicapping.

The result is that some parties get advantaged, or disadvantaged, depending on how things break for them.

Every now and again a loophole can allow a player to have the final decision in who carries what.

Legal Eagle – key horse

The July log at 4 May shows that the top three are:

1. Legal Eagle (120)
2. Abashiri (117)
3. French Navy (115)

Study the log here

Two other notes are that 3yo’s get a 2 kg WFA allowance, and that the maximum weight for a 3yo colt in the July is 57kgs.

If you’re iinterested, why not read the document below.

South Africa Weight for Age – Diff (1)

What makes Tarry’s seat red hot is that because he has the highest rated horse (which he can withdraw, and in this case is already on record as a possibility), he can manipulate the weights by choosing when to announce the withdrawal.

And his options are: