Belgarion (Anton Marcus) is led in by Team Snaith (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
Saturday’s impressive Gr2 WSB 1900 winner Belgarion received the thumbs up from jockey Anton Marcus after his impressive victory and is likely to carry 53kgs in the fortcoming Vodacom Durban July.
Marcus exclaimed that Belgarion is ‘way, way below the radar’ and was clearly full of credit for Justin Snaith’s lightly raced son of Dynasty who has had the July in his sights for most of this season.
Belgarion is likely to carry 53kgs in the big race on 25 July, assuming a revised merit rating of 119, after Saturday’s Greyville 1900, and assuming that his hat-trick bidding stablemate Do It Again will be in under the 60kg top weight.
Despite technically 1kg under sufferance under true handicap conditions, the clearly upwardly mobile and scopy Belgarion’s perfectly planned programme brings him into the big race looking really nicely set for a big effort.
The biggest headache may lie with the jockeys, with both Anton Marcus and Richard Fourie going to have to slim down to make the weight.
The interesting reality is that Marcus and Fourie have won a July each on title-holder Do It Again – so the Snaith brains trust Zoom platform is likely to be an active one in the next few weeks before final acceptance on 13 July as the top team bounce the decisions and strategy around.
See the projected weights – kindly compiled by Jay August:
| Log | Horse | Age | Sex | MR | Trainer | WFA | Kgs | Max | Min | KGs | Suffer |
| 1 | DO IT AGAIN | 5 | G | 135 | Justin Snaith | 0 | 60.0 | 60.0 | 53 | 60.0 | 0.0 |
| 2 | VARDY | 4 | G | 134 | Adam Marcus | 0 | 59.5 | 60.0 | 53 | 59.5 | 0.0 |
| 3 | RAINBOW BRIDGE | 5 | G | 134 | Eric Sands | 0 | 59.5 | 60.0 | 53 | 59.5 | 0.0 |
| 4 | HAWWAAM | 4 | C | 131 | Mike de Kock | 0 | 58.0 | 60.0 | 53 | 58.0 | 0.0 |
| 5 | SOQRAT (AUS) | 4 | C | 133 | Mike de Kock | 0 | 59.0 | 60.0 | 53 | 59.0 | 0.0 |
| 6 | GOT THE GREENLIGHT | 3 | C | 116 | Joe Soma | 2 | 48.5 | 57.0 | 53 | 53.0 | -4.5 |
| 7 | GOLDEN DUCAT | 3 | G | 110 | Eric Sands | 2 | 45.5 | 57.0 | 53 | 53.0 | -7.5 |
| 8 | TWIST OF FATE | 4 | C | 129 | Adam Marcus | 0 | 57.0 | 60.0 | 53 | 57.0 | 0.0 |
| 9 | BUNKER HUNT | 4 | G | 124 | Justin Snaith | 0 | 54.5 | 60.0 | 53 | 54.5 | 0.0 |
| 10 | BELGARION | 4 | G | 119 | Justin Snaith | 0 | 52.0 | 60.0 | 53 | 53.0 | -1.0 |
| 11 | SHANGO | 3 | C | 118 | Sean Tarry | 2 | 49.5 | 57.0 | 53 | 53.0 | -3.5 |
| 12 | CHIJMES | 4 | G | 120 | Gary Alexander | 0 | 52.5 | 60.0 | 53 | 53.0 | -0.5 |
| 13 | SNAPSCAN | 4 | F | 118 | Glen Kotzen | 0 | 51.5 | 59.0 | 52 | 52.0 | -0.5 |
| 14 | PADRE PIO | 3 | G | 110 | Dennis Bosch | 2 | 45.5 | 57.0 | 53 | 53.0 | -7.5 |
| 15 | SACHDEV | 3 | G | 108 | Justin Snaith | 2 | 44.5 | 57.0 | 53 | 53.0 | -8.5 |
| 16 | TIERRA DEL FUEGO | 4 | C | 124 | Sean Tarry | 0 | 54.5 | 60.0 | 53 | 54.5 | 0.0 |
| 17 | SILVANO’S PRIDE | 4 | F | 115 | Justin Snaith | 0 | 50.0 | 59.0 | 52 | 52.0 | -2.0 |
| 18 | EYES WIDE OPEN | 5 | G | 116 | Glen Kotzen | 0 | 50.5 | 60.0 | 53 | 53.0 | -2.5 |
| 19 | CAMPHORATUS | 5 | M | 111 | R A Hill/S R Hill | 0 | 48.0 | 59.0 | 52 | 52.0 | -4.0 |
| 20 | MIYABI GOLD | 5 | M | 115 | Justin Snaith | 0 | 50.0 | 59.0 | 52 | 52.0 | -2.0 |
| NEXT 5 IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER | |||||||||||
| DIVINE ODYSSEY | 5 | G | 114 | J A Janse van Vuuren | 0 | 49.5 | 60.0 | 53 | 53.0 | -3.5 | |
| HERO’S HONOUR | 5 | G | 117 | Gary Alexander | 0 | 51.0 | 60.0 | 53 | 53.0 | -2.0 | |
| MAGNIFICENT SEVEN | 5 | G | 114 | Justin Snaith | 0 | 49.5 | 60.0 | 53 | 53.0 | -3.5 | |
| ROY HAD ENOUGH (AUS) | 5 | H | 115 | Frank Robinson | 0 | 50.0 | 60.0 | 53 | 53.0 | -3.0 | |
| ROY’S RIVIERA (AUS) | 5 | M | 111 | Frank Robinson | 0 | 48.0 | 59.0 | 52 | 52.0 | -4.0 | |
| MR in yellow indicaes MR changed since initial log publication | |||||||||||
The VDJ timeline:
First Declarations – close 11h00 Monday, 6 July
Final Supp. Entries – close 11h00 Tuesday, 7 July
Weights Published – Tuesday, 7 July
Final Declarations -close 11h00 Monday, 13 July
Final Field and Draw – 14 July
Final Field: Subject to NHRA approval, twenty horses will be carded for this event (18 Horses + 2 Reserves)
The Reserves to be scratched by 08h15 on Friday 24 July.
Elimination will be at the sole and unfettered discretion of Gold Circle.
Click on the image below for the betting:
