Drill Hall clash for two July fancies on the cards

Top horses draw the crowds Winx is the perfect example and two of the country’s best horses, Do It Again and Rainbow Bridge, could see racing fans heading for Greyville on Friday night, May 3.

These two horses have been entered for the 1,400m Drill Hall Stakes, a race often used as a stepping stone by trainers en route to the Durban July.

Unfortunately, both horses have drawn wide barrier gates so it remains to be seen whether connections will accept to run. Of course, victory in this race is not the goal that remains the July to be run on July 6.

In early betting, bookies believe the Justin Snaith inmate Do It Again can live up to his name and win the famous race for the second year running. He tops the betting boards at 5-1.

Rainbow Bridge has reportedly settled in well at his Summerveld stable and he is on offer at 7-1 for the July. He will be ridden by Anton Marcus who notched his fifth July triumph when successful on Do It Again in 2018.

Mike De Kock has three of his stable in the first five in the July betting Hawwaam (13-2), Barahin (15-2) and Buffalo Bill Cody (11-1). The Gauteng trainer has warned that Hawwaam may go for the Daily News 2,000 rather than the July.

If one needed proof of the uncertainty of being a jockey, the case of S’manga Khumalo in the first two days of this week is the perfect example.

Khumalo, who won the 2013 Durban July on Heavy Metal, won three races in Kimberley on Monday, but took a fall in the closing stages of the second race at Kenilworth on Tuesday. Then in the sixth race, Aldo Domeyer also took a bad fall and both jockeys were taken to hospital for further examination.

Khumalo had three booked rides at the Vaal on Thursday and will have to be replaced. Two were for trainer Joey Ramsden including Tarsus in the sixth race.

A son of Var bred at Maine Chance Farms, Tarsus won over Thursday’s course and distance in the middle of March and followed this with a fourth behind Fire And Rescue at Turffontein.

Perhaps the right horse in the sixth race will be Life Is Good who has been bought by connections of Barend Botes’ stable from Roy Magner and Piere Strydom is an eye-catching booking. Paul Peter’s five-yearold, Bold Coast, will also have his supporters, but has to shoulder top weight of 61,5kg.

Khumalo was due to ride another of Var’s offspring, Au Revoir, in the second race in which the filly is stepping up to 1,400m. A runner who makes more appeal is Notquitethereyet who finished a close-up third on her most recent outing.

Lyle Hewitson will want to get among the winners before sitting out a week’s ban and it will be interesting to see if there is market support for his mount, Succession, in the first race.

Klawervlei Stud will certainly be hoping this inmate of Sean Tarry’s powerful stable can make a winning debut as they are offering his half-brother (by Silvano) on the first day of the Emperors Palace National Yearling Sales (April 24).

Hewitson teams up with Johan Janse van Vuuren’s filly, Mademoiselle, for the third time in the seventh race and the filly has a big shout if she can concede 9kg to Roy Magner’s runner, Ilha Da Var.

Young apprentice Nathan Klink has caught the eye of a number of trainers and his 2,5kg allowance will reduce Ilha Da Var’s weight to just 49,5kg. Memphis Belle, who was bred at Gary Player’s Stud, also comes into the reckoning in this handicap as Lucky Houdalakis’s mare is taking a big drop in class.

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