Eyes On The Hollywoodbets Durban July?

Following their respective victories at Turffontein on Saturday, could there be two trainers eyeing Hollywoodbets Durban July glory at Hollywoodbets Greyville on 6 July?

Hollywoodbets have opened the first antepost market for Africa’s greatest, and you can see more here.

First up after Saturday, let’s look at Gimme A Nother who made it five from five with victory in the Wilgerbosdrift Gr2 Fillies Guineas.

David Mollett writes that when he drove away from the city track, it’s possible Mike De Kock was thinking the daughter of Gimmethegreenlight could follow in the hoofprints of 2002 July winner, Ipi Tombe, who under a great ride from Kevin Shea, became the first three year-old filly to win SA’s most famous race in 50 years. She was also drawn on South Beach!

“These horses don’t come along too often,” enthused De Kock who has won the July five times with Ipi Tombe (2002), Greys Inn (2004), Bold Silvano (2010), Igugu (2011) and Sparkling Water (2022).

It was understandable that owner-breeder, Jessica Jell, felt “we were in trouble when he was last.” So were many punters who looked to her filly and Sandringham Summit to retrieve losses incurred at the WSB Cape Town Met meeting.

This was the first leg of the Wilgerbosdrift Triple Tiara and – given her pedigree – one is tempted to think the next two legs will be a walk in the park.

Of course, racing has its bumps in the road as we saw with See It Again. But commentator Nico Kritsiotis surely got it right when saying “the world’s her oyster” as Gimme A Nother returned to the winner’s enclosure.

De Kock also saddled the runner-up, Silver Sanctuary, for Drakenstein Stud. They’ve had a tremendous last 12 months but this race belonged to the Wilgerbosdrift/Mauritzfontein operation.

On to the TAB Gauteng Guineas where – with Main Defender in his box – Sandringham Summit looked set to reward both punters and Varsfontein Stud.

I monitored the betting prior to the start closely on World Sports Betting and there was an avalanche of support for Tony Peter’s runner, William Iron Arm, who shortened through all rates from 26-10 to 19-10.

It was a memorable meeting for Gavin Lerena and he gave his mount a textbook ride – worth showing to young apprentices at the Academy.

Sandringham Summit was bred by Varsfontein and the decision by John and Susan Kalmanson – with top horseman Carl De Vos at the helm – to acquire the horse they bred rates on a par with Bayern Munich spending 95 million euros on football star, Harry Kane.

Of course, the purchase price will be nowhere near that figure, but it shows forward-thinking by Varsfontein.

The Kalmansons will be aware that Gimmethegreenlight (sire of both Guineas winners on Saturday) is now 16 and new sires – noticeably Charles Dickens – will soon be represented at the yearling sales.

Now, obviously winning the Triple Crown will be David Nieuwenhuizen’s major objective, but his star colt has already won two races at Hollywoodbets Greyville and it will be interesting to see his price when the Hollywoodbets Durban July market opens. Ed – we expect the ante-post market to open this week.

Victory in that race would surely give Varsfontein bragging rights!

It would signal that – unlike Charles Dickens retired before the Met – Sandringham’s owners were up for any challenge.

With David Shawe – whose star is well and truly in the ascendancy in the owners ranks – speaking at the post-race interview, it’s clear Varsfontein will race the three year-old with some prominent owners, including Laurence Wernars.

Finally, a word about Hollywoodbets-sponsored trainer David Nieuwenhuizen.

I have witnessed many Godolphin deals in the UK where a small trainer with a star on his hands sees the horse leave his stable and head for Charlie Appleby.

It must have occurred to the likeable Turffontein trainer that the new partnership might be favouring a big stable like Justin Snaith, Sean Tarry, Candice Bass-Robinson or Brett Crawford.

Happily, that hasn’t occurred and David will have retired to bed on Saturday knowing he had delivered the goods and the weight was off his shoulders.