First Acceptors - Vodacom Durban July

The entry for this year’s R3 million Vodacom Durban July (Gr 1) was cut to 25 at First Acceptances on Thursday, June 11, and the battle for a place in the final 20-horse field will come to a head at Clairwood Racecourse on Saturday.



On the current log of the 20 preferred runners, Surfin’ USA was withdrawn by trainer Mark Dixon earlier this week, leaving one available space. However, a big showing from any of the five borderline cases in the Gold Challenge and Cup Trial, both races to be run on Saturday, could see the picture change once again.



Those runners entered in the Cup Trial, and on the outside looking in for a place in the Vodacom Durban July field, are Singing Sword and Cape Town while other July hopefuls are the Charles Laird-trained Senor Versace and recent Clairwood winner, Meteor Shower.



Senor Versace is mid-field on the July log and looks fairly assured of a run in the big race but Meteor Shower’s last win saw him sneak into 20th position on the log so his place in the final field is not cemented and trainer Mike Bass will be hoping for another big run from his charge to make sure of qualification.



In the Gold Challenge, Littleredcorvette and Pirate’s Gold are also outside of the top 20 on the log but face a huge task against champion Pocket Power, not to mention the likes of River Jetez, Kapil, Buy And Sell and Our Giant, all certain of a place in the final Vodacom Durban July field.



A number of jockeys have also already been declared. Regular pilot, Bernard Fayd’Herbe will be aboard the Bass-trained ruling ante-post favourite Pocket Power while Glen Hatt gets the ride on stable companion River Jetez. With only 51kg to shoulder, crack three-year-old Big City Life was never going to be an option for Fayd’Herbe and Hong Kong-bound Greg Cheyne has picked up a plum mount.



Anthony Delpech may have to shed a gram or two to ride recent Woolavington 2000 winner and Mike de Kock-trained, Zirconeum while the two other De Kock runners, Forest Path and Bouquet-Garni, will be partnered by Warren Kennedy and “MJ” Byleveld respectively.



Felix Coetzee will again be aboard Buy And Sell for Sean Tarry while Gerrit Schlechter, successful on Eyeofthetiger back in 2006, has been booked by trainer Mike Miller to partner his smart Greyville specialist and last year’s Garden Province (Gr 1) winner, Outcome.



Ashburton-based trainer Duncan Howells will leg-up stable rider Brandon Lerena onto Betting World 1900 (Gr 2) winner Tropical Empire while the Craig Eudey-trained Thandolwami will have the services of regular pilot, Raymond Danielson.



The final Vodacom Durban July field will be announced live on Tellytrack on Thursday, June 18 at 1pm with Public Gallops taking place at Greyville on Thursday, June 25 at 7am.



The R3 million Vodacom Durban July (Gr 1) will be run over 2200m at Greyville on Saturday, July 4.






Gill Simpkins
Public Relations Manager

POCKET POWER 58.0 121 B Fayd'Herbe Mike Bass
OUR GIANT (AUS) 55.0 115 B R Fourie Charles Laird
BUY AND SELL 53.0 111 F Coetzee Sean Tarry
KAPIL 52.5 110 ............... Stan Elley
SMART BANKER 52.5 110 A Marcus Charles Laird
RIVER JETEZ 51.5 108 G Hatt Mike Bass!
ALUMINIUM (ARG) 51.0 103 ............... Geoff Woodruf
BIG CITY LIFE 51.0 107 G Cheyne Glen Kotzen
BOUQUET-GARNI 51.0 101 M Byleveld Mike de Kock
CAPE TOWN 51.0 97 ............... Gavin van Zyl
CASEY'S SON 51.0 100 ............... J Butterworth
CATMANDU 51.0 102 B ............... Andre Kirsten
FOREST PATH 51.0 105 W Kennedy Mike de Kock
LIKEITHO! T 51.0 105 ............... Charles Laird
LITTLEREDCORVETTE 51.0 86 ............... Glen Puller
LONDON GUEST 51.0 97 ............... Tony Rivallan
METEOR SHOWER (IRE 51.0 100 B ............... Mike Bass
PIRATE'S GOLD 51.0 96 ............... Glen Kotzen
SENOR VERSACE 51.0 105 B ............... Charles Laird
SINGING SWORD 51.0 102 ............... Tyrone Zackey
THANDOLWAMI 51.0 102 R Danielson Craig Eudey
THUNDERING JET 51.0 100 ............... Mike Bass
TROPICAL EMPIRE (A 51.0 106 B Lerena Duncan Howell
OUTCOME 50.0 103 B G Schlechter Michael Mille
ZIRCONEUM 50.0 103 A Delpech Mike de Kock

Any confirmned jockey bookings?