Rich Greyville dish a nice appetiser for next weekend’s feast

A minor feature event boasting a stake of R500,000 is a rare jewel in South African horse racing’s new world of prize money austerity. So, it’s no surprise to see plenty of talent from Joburg and Cape Town lining up in Sunday’s KwaZulu-Natal Breeders’ Mile at Greyville in Durban.

The KZN provincial breeders-sponsored day won’t be as festive as usual, thanks to the behind-closed-doors regime, but the farm folk have stuck to their tradition of stumping up extra cash for prizes.

Ten of the 12 runners in the headliner are out-of-towners and it is a highly competitive affair, with punters advised to go wide in their exotic bets.

Sometime Durban July hopefuls Nexus, D’Arrivee and Chijmes will have plenty of supporters as they seek a decent consolation here. But one of two extraordinary fillies might frustrate them.

Trainer Adam Marcus’s Mississippi Burning has won five of her last six starts, including the Grade 1 Cape Fillies Guineas and the Durban equivalent on this Greyville surface.

Ranging alongside her is Ronnie’s Candy, Highveld trainer St John Gray’s tough cookie who has beaten some of the best females around – most recently in the Grade 1 Empress Club Stakes at Turffontein.

This battle royal is one of three races to be run on the most important strip of grass in the country at the moment – the rest of Sunday’s card being staged on the adjoining polytrack.

One of the turf races is a maiden while the other is the Track and Ball Oaks, postponed from a week ago when a rain shower brought a sudden end to proceedings on the rather less-looked-after Scottsville track.

Despite its prestigious status, this Grade 2 Oaks has a purse of just R150,000 – little more than we were racing for in maidens a few months ago.

Nonetheless, the weight-for-age event has attracted a strong line-up of fillies and mares of all ages (don’t let the nomenclature fool you). Former SA Oaks winner and 2019 July contender Return Flight is a name that jumps out, but Sean Tarry’s charge has not been at her best lately and might struggle against the likes of fellow Joburg raiders Pomander, Chitengo and Ballet Shoes – not to mention Cape Town’s Kelpie.

All-in-all, Sunday’s Greyville action is a perfect appetiser for the main course the following weekend: the Vodacom Durban July.

Prize money for Africa’s most famous race has been slashed from R4.25 million to just R1.5 million as the racing industry struggles to regain its footing after a major stumble.

This week, racing operators and owners’ body the Racing Association announced that the reduced stakes situation will persist for a while longer.

“The interim arrangement in respect of minor-race stakes for the Highveld, Western Cape and Eastern Cape in June and July has been extended for the month of August,” read their statement.

“Racing resumed behind closed doors on 1 June and, due to the significantly lower betting revenues generated by the racing operators, stakes levels were reduced to reflect this.

“Although betting shops have been allowed to open from 1 July under strict Covid-19 regulations, the flow of revenue from these sources remains slow with the majority of tote turnover coming from online and call-centre platforms.

“The racing operators will therefore continue to contribute 40% of previous stakes levels, with the Racing Association topping this up by a further 20% to achieve the current 60% levels.

“Feature-race stakes, where applicable, will also remain at existing reduced levels for the time being,” added the statement.

“During this interim period, the racing operators and the Racing Association will continue to meet monthly to analyse betting-revenue trends before making further decisions regarding stakes levels on a monthly basis.

“The parties have also agreed to further defer the negotiation of the new stakes agreement until more certainty emerges on a number of issues affecting the industry.”

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