What was your favourite july winner and why?

LOL, Badger! It happens in the best of families. In 78 or 79 we had a family each-of-you-take-a-bet on the July ... each backed our choice, and my stepfather won (I forget on which horse). The trouble was he had put his betting ticket in his shirt pocket and his shirt in the wash ... had no faith ... the look on his face as he took the paper-mash out of the pocket and tried to pick it apart was something to behold!! He'd never taken a bet before and has never taken one since.

Just in case this should happen again, there is a simple claim procedure for claiming lost or destroyed tickets with a bookie or tote

Ipi Tombe the queen of the turf. My first July winner after many decades of losers. And she did it for Zim, attagirl..

My favourites would be:

Before I started at Winning Form - a toss up between Politician and Bush Telegraph. The former because after the race came the nearest thing to mass hysteria I've ever seen on a racecourse, and Bush Telegraph because a) of the Garth Puller weight loss angle and b) because I had several arguments with knowledgeable racing people who told me he would never stay. I'm not an egomaniac, but being proven right when you have tons of respect for those taking the opposite view is always nice.

After I started at Winning Form and went "public", so to speak - Flaming Rock, followed by London News. Pirates will remember the Flaming Rock July - our trains of thought were identical. He was handicapped a blinder after he won what was still the Schweppes Challenge (I think) and bugger the wide draw or the stamina doubts. All I said in a nutshell was - I think he will stay, and if he stays, he wins. London News, for the terrific and brave frontrunning ride he got from Striker. Yes, he might not have won without a very strong tailwind in the straight, but Striker read the conditions perfectly and won even though his horse was dying at a rate of knots in the final stages.

by David Thiselton

A little July History

The Vodacom Durban July on Saturday is the country’s most prestigious race and famous names have been made through winning it.



Fifty years ago in 1961 the biggest July name of them all, Syd Laird, saddled his first winner of the big race.



Laird was a Cape trainer at the time and the 40-1 outsider Kerason just got his nose in front to deny the Oppenheimer-owned Hengist.



Kerason was ridden by G Walker and was owned by Captain WAK Daizell.



Laird trained a record seven winners in all, prompting the headline “Seven Up Syd” when Politician won in 1978, a play on the words of a popular soft drink.



Included among the seven was the facile 3,25 length winner of forty years ago, the tall and leggy three-year-old Mazarin, who was trained out of Summerveld and started 9-4 favourite.



Mazarin’s win was the first of three July winners for jockey Bertie Hayden.



Syd’s son Alec revealed earlier this week that his father often said, “Sea Cottage was the best horse I ever trained, but Mazarin was the best three-year-old.”



Mazarin’s other Grade 1 wins in his sophomore year were the Cape Derby, the South African Guineas by 4,5 lengths and he also won the Champion Stakes shortly after turning four.



Mr and Mrs E Tenderini owned Mazarin.



In one of the centres of world breeding, the UK, horses associated with blinkers at the time were apparently considered “rogues”, so any potential stallion would never be seen in this headgear.



The Tenderini’s consequently didn’t allow Mazarin to be tried in blinkers in his four-year-old year and, according to Alec, Syd reckoned he would have had a better record but for this.



There was a fairytale win thirty years ago in 1981 by the appropriately named horse Big Charles, as the race was run just three weeks or so before the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana.



Big Charles was trained out of Malmesbury by the veterinarian Dr Louis Naude and was ridden by Jimmy Anderson .



Garth Puller knew Big Charles well, having been offered the troublesome horse as a yearling, and recalled an incident at the July Ball a few days prior to the race in which he told everybody at his table that he fancied his mount Over The Air, but that “whatever beat Big Charles would win the race.”



This prompted an astonished KZN trainer to reply, “What, a horse from Malmesbury win the July?!”



Big Charles just pipped French Mustard, leaving the great jockey Michael Roberts still chasing his elusive first July winner.



Twenty years ago in 1991 Karl Neisius rode the Chris Snaith-trained Flaming Rock to an exciting victory.



Neisius described Flaming Rock yesterday as an English type of horse, “tough, with a beautiful action and good temperament.”



He was considered best over a mile, so there was a concern about his draw of 20, the widest of all, while the tailwind that might have helped him see out the trip died down before the race.



Neisius dropped him out before beginning a run around the field from the 800m mark.



He found an amazing finish in the straight to just deny Al Mufti, who had already stood a season at stud, on the line.



Flaming Rock’s courage was illustrated in that he was so exhausted after the race that he became probably the only ever July winner to skip the victory canter.



Ten years ago the Mike Bass-trained Trademark won the race and interestingly he carried saddlecloth 13, the same as the Bass yard’s shortest priced horse in this year’s race, English Garden.



Bass said, “He won the weight for age Queen’s Plate, so was no slouch. He also finished second in the Met when not given the greatest of rides. Compared to my runners this year I made him about as good as Castlethorpe. Before the July I wanted him about 12 lengths back as I knew, like most horses, he preferred being given a chance. Piere Strydom wanted him handy, but as luck would have it he was forced to have him right near the back due to some early scrimmaging, so my original plan came together.”



Like Bass’ older runner this year, Super Storm, Trademark was a four-year-old and won the Grade 3 Cup Trial before the July.

Dunford. My biggest payout on July day to-date! Hopefully next year my new fav will be The Apache.

gavross Wrote:

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> Dunford. My biggest payout on July day to-date!
> Hopefully next year my new fav will be The Apache.


Doubt the apache will run next year.lol

Will still be his Favourite if the Apache wins this year lol

1st july winner,Politian in 78 had my R5 on the tote then. Family bet
Most memorable Ipi Tombe was standing on the winning post and shouted her home, proceeded to get totally sorted in the Berea round table tent afterwards.
The july will always remain one of the parties of note. My 15yr old daughter already wants me to take her next year, could cost me a fortune. I hope Run for it will cover the expenses

Super Quality in 1997 winning for me as I lay sick in Addinton Hospital - had the princely sum of R10 win on the tote.

1979 as a student went down to Durban to watch and back Beau Art. The night before we had a nice piss-up in some bar, where some journo convinced us that Over the Air was past the post. We backed it at 14/1, this win payed the whole of our vacation that year.
The next year 1980, I backed Beau Art.
Another good win was on Classic Flag. Classic Flag was by Allied Flag, and owned by prof Willie Herbst. I spoke to prof Willie a while before the July about his horse,as I also had 2 Allied Flags. He was very bullish about Classic Flag, which subsiquently won.

Classic Flag Prof Herbst horse was never interested in horses but we had a lot of dealings and he was very very confident of winning I backed it to win R20000 and was hooked after that (after all it looked like racing was easy:-) ) My first winner as an owner was in partnership with the late Prof, Danzigs Express first time out (again I thought owning horseracing is a easy game 1st runner 1st winner:-) ) Great stories from all makes excellent reading