Andrew Hawkins is a long-time international racing expert with extensive experience across the globe, including with the Hong Kong Jockey Club, World Horse Racing, Racing Post and Sky Racing. He is now one of Australia’s premier Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games researchers.
Hawkins will be previewing the Durban July meeting for Betsy, look out for his preview and tips ahead of the weekend.
The Durban July, which is run on Saturday night, is South Africa’s answer to the Melbourne Cup: a large-field handicap dating back to the 19th century which attracts a mix of top-class talent, rising stars and hardy types.
Run over 2200m at Greyville in Durban’s inner suburbs, it is the one race every South African owner, trainer and jockey wants to win. It is both Africa’s richest and most prestigious race. It is the one race which attracts mainstream attention every year, with coverage dominating media across the country.
It is a festival of colour, spectacle and fashion. While the Melbourne Cup Carnival is generally about more traditional looks, the Durban July attracts the best designers from across the African continent, pushing the boundaries of what can be considered fashion, all centred around a single theme (this year’s theme is “country allure”).
The 12-race card includes a second Group 1 race, the Garden Province Stakes for mares, as well as two Group 2 races for juveniles, three Group 3 races and a Listed event, all on turf. There are also four lesser races on the polytrack.
However, the card is all about the feature, the Durban July, which showcases one of the calendar’s premier contests between horses from South Africa’s three major racing centres in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban.
Generally, the country’s best horses emerge from Cape Town, while those based in Johannesburg train at altitude and have an aerobic advantage when they come down to sea level. They meet on neutral ground in Durban, which has its own strong racing industry, although its horses are generally considered a rung below those from Cape Town and Johannesburg. The last Durban July winner representing KwaZulu-Natal was in 1992.
Since 2014, the July has been run on a narrower turf track following the installation of the inside polytrack.
Intriguingly though, since that shift, every winner has come from the Western Cape.
Among the trainers from Cape Town in this year’s July are five-time winner Justin Snaith, who saddles five runners; Candice Bass, who became the first female trainer to win the race in 2017 with Marinaresco; and James Crawford, who is aiming to follow his father Brett as a winning trainer.
Mike and Mathew de Kock lead those making the trip down from Johannesburg, sending out two runners, Aladdin’s Lamp and Curious Girl, while Eric Verdonese, Roy Magner and Corne Spies also represent South Africa’s largest metropolis.
Flying the flag for the locals is Stuart Ferrie-trained Gladatorian, Peter Muscutt, who sends out Isivivane and I Salute You, and Gareth van Zyl, who saddles King Pelles with Sydney-based Chad Schofield booked to ride.
Schofield, who was born in Durban, is joined in the race by his cousin Zac Lloyd, who partners early favourite Regulation for Snaith.
Both riders are sons of top South African jockeys who relocated to Australia in Glyn Schofield and Jeff Lloyd. The elder Lloyd finished second at his final attempt in 2017 and third on a remarkable nine occasions but could never lift the prize, while Schofield never finished closer than sixth.
Chad Schofield has previously ridden in the Durban July. He partnered The Conglomerate to finish eighth in 2015 before the Australian-bred gelding, a son of two old sparring partners in Lonhro and Republic Lass, returned a year later to win the race with Piere Strydom in the saddle.
WATCH: The Conglomerate win the 2016 Durban July
Schofield has not ridden in the July since, but he takes the ride on Durban contender King Pelles this year.
The Conglomerate (2016) is one of four Australian-bred winners of the July in its 130-year history and one of two in the last 15 years, joining Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa’s Igugu (2011).
Two early winners, Nymagee (1904) and Chere Amie (1905), were bred in colonial New South Wales. In fact, Chere Amie won the 1904 Doncaster Handicap, while Nymagee contested races such as the 1902 Champagne Stakes, 1903 Doncaster Handicap and 1903 Sydney Cup before he was sold to South Africa.
It would be a century before the Durban July would again have such a significant link to Australia’s major races.
Mike de Kock’s Greys Inn, who won in 2004 and who had an Australian pedigree despite being foaled in the United States, made the trip to Australia in 2005 after finishing fourth in the Group 1 Sheema Classic in Dubai and second in the Group 1 QEII Cup in Hong Kong.
He finished fourth to El Segundo in the Caulfield Stakes, 10th to Makybe Diva in a famous Cox Plate and 17th in Makybe Diva’s historic third Melbourne Cup success.
Several other names on the Durban July honour roll will also be familiar to Australian racing fans.
Group 1-winning handler David Payne rode the winner, Chimboraa, in 1968, returning four years later as the trainer of In Full Flight to become one of the few to win the race as both a trainer and jockey.
Globetrotting rider Robbie Fradd partnered champion colt Dynasty to victory in 2003, nine years after his first success aboard Space Walk.
Past and present Hong Kong trainers Tony Millard, David Ferraris and Brett Crawford, along with former Singapore handler Patrick Shaw, who prepared the city’s best horse Rocket Man, also appear on the honour roll.
