Rainbow Bridge in pole, Got The Greenlight gets gate 14 as Durban July field is unveiled

It was a mixed bag of barrier position draws for the 2021 Vodacom Durban July favourites when the final field for South Africa’s premier horse race, at Greyville on 3 July, was announced on Tuesday.

Ruling 28-10 favourite and 2020 July runner-up Got The Greenlight landed the No 14 stall – a starting position that divides opinion on its merits.

The country’s top-rate horse Rainbow Bridge landed pole position, No 1 on the inside rail. Heavily-backed Linebacker got No 6 – which many consider to be about the best position from which to start the famous old 2200m contest.

Well-backed three-year-old Kommetdieding and his new jockey Gavin Lerena will have to jump from the widest starting stall, No 18, while dual July champion Do It Again and rider Richard Fourie have it little better in 16.

Last year’s winner, Belgarion, is No 11.

There were few surprises when the final line-up for the Grade 1 event was unveiled by Gold Circle CEO Graeme Hawkins on DStv’s Tellytrack channel.

There might be minor quibbles about horses at the lower end of the weights, with 96-merit rated She’s A Keeper and 101-rated Matterhorn getting the nod over better-rated horses such as Doublemint (118), Atyaab (114) and reserve runners Silver Host (111) and Shango (110).

The selection is done by a panel from operator Gold Circle and criteria for an invitation include current form.

Triple Tiara winner and fan favourite War Of Athena was scratched from the remaining entries last week, with trainer Paul Matchett opting to run his superstar filly in the Grade 1 Garden Province Stakes for females on July day instead.

Cape Town trainer Justin Snaith, going for a history-making fourth win in succession the July – after Belgarion in 2020 and Do It Again in 2018 and 2019 – has four horses in the mix: the aforementioned two and Crown Towers and Nexus.

Champion trainer Sean Tarry has two runners, Shah Akbar and Cirillo, as does Vaughan Marshall with Rascallion and Linebacker.

Final field for the R2-million Vodacom Durban July, Grade 1, 2200m, 3 July

(number & draw, name, weight, jockey, trainer, merit rating):

1 Rainbow Bridge 60 (Luke Ferraris) Eric Sands 134

2 Johnny Hero 53 (……) Tyrone Zackey 106

3 Shah Akbar 53 (…..) Sean Tarry 119

4 Expressfromtheus 54 (Marco van Rensburg) Stuart Pettigrew 122

5 Crown Towers 53 (Luyolo Mxothwa) Justin Snaith 117

6 Rascallion 53 (Sean Veale) Vaughan Marshall 123

7 Linebacker 53 (Grant van Niekerk) Vaughan Marshall 124

8 Sovereign Spirit 54 (Keagan de Melo Candice Bass-Robinson 122

9 Cirillo 53 (…..) Sean Tarry 120

10 She’s A Keeper 52 (Warren Kennedy) Gareth van Zyl 96

11 Belgarion 58 (S’Manga Khumalo) Justin Snaith 130

12 Nexus 53 (Craig Zackey) Justin Snaith 117

13 Running Brave 52.5 (…..) Fanie Bronkhorst 117

14 Got The Greenlight 55 (Muzi Yeni) Joe Soma 124

15 Matterhorn 53 (Serino Moodley) Alyson Wright 101

16 Do It Again 57.5 (Richard Fourie) Justin Snaith 129

17 Tristful 53 (Callan Murray) Tony Rivalland 113

18 Kommetdieding 53 (Gavin Lerena) Harold Crawford & Michelle Rix 122

RESERVES

Silver Host 53 (…..) Justin Snaith 110

Shango 53 (…..) Sean Tarry 111