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The defending champions int his year's Durban July will be Oriental Charm. Picture: Gerhard Duraan/Gallo Images
First and second finishers in January’s WSB Cape Town Met – Eight On Eighteen and Oriental Charm – top the early betting boards for the 2025 Hollywoodbets Durban July.
The sponsor of South Africa’s premier horse race opened ante-post betting on the event this week – four months before the Grade 1, multimillion-rand spectacle is staged at Greyville on 5 July.
Four-year-old colt Oriental Charm, the July defending champion trained by the Crawford father and son team, was chalked up as 13-2 favourite, with the year-younger Eight On Eighteen, from Snaith Racing, on 15-2.
They were followed by a list of nearly 80 horses, with odds ranging up to 330-1.
Three-year-old filly Fiery Pegasus, impressive winner of Saturday’s Grade 1 Wilgerbosdrift Fillies Classic at Turffontein, is third favourite at 10-1.
Another weekend winner, Cosmic Speed, who landed the Grade 1 HF Oppenheiner Horse Chestnut Stakes, is quoted at 12-1. Sharing that price is Fire Attack, runner-up in Saturday’s Grade 1 TAB SA Classic – a lot shorter than his conquerer Confederate, who can be backed at 20-1 for the July.
Official ante-post betting opened a month later than in 2024, when Hollywoodbets first experimented with an ultralong-range market – of the type common elsewhere in the world for big races.
Interestingly, if punters had fancied a February flutter on the 2024 winner they would have had to specially request a price from the bookmakers, with the name Oriental Charm nowhere to be seen at the first call.
Hollywoodbets only listed about 30 “possibles” back then, with See It Again and Mucho Dinero joint favourites at 5-1.
See It Again, who finished fifth in the 2024 July after encountering interference in running, was the only horse of the first four in that early betting to actually make it into the final field.
And therein lies the peril for punters: it is still very early in the July sifting process and all wagers on non-runners are forfeited.
But the beauty of the ante-post punt lies in the huge value. Big risk, big reward.
If you had asked the bookmakers for their assessment of Oriental Charm at this time last year, they might have given you the 100-1 they were offering on their rank outsider at the time.
That’s a tad better than the 10-1 he ended up at. By then, of course, he’d won and run second in his July prep runs and rocketed into the big race picture.
A quick perusal of the 2025 odds sees our old friend See It Again – who had a disappointing summer campaign around the country – not given much breathing room at 14-1.
By contrast, recent Cape Derby runner-up Sail The Seas seems good value at 18-1. Fellow Cape Town galloper Montien, who shone throughout the summer and was a close third in the Met behind the two market leaders, will surely attract some money at 33-1.
Recent fast improver The Real Prince is also at 33-1, as is filly Spumante Dolce, who didn’t run to high expectations in the Fillies Classic but who trainer Mike de Kock has said might have been suffering from an undetected infection.
The Highveld’s top-rated horse Main Defender looks mildly tempting at 66-1.
Tony Peter’s charge was a hot favourite for Saturday’s 1600m Horse Chestnut Stakes but was declared a non-runner after tangling with the starting gate. Analysts clearly reckon he doesn’t have the stamina for the July’s 2200m, but he has gone close over Turffontein’s demanding 1800m.
An ante-post bet is a bet on a medium- to long-term feature race or event.
In the case of weather or outside influences that cause an event to be postponed or rescheduled to another day, then all ante-post bets shall stand.
Ante-post bets may include runners that do not ultimately participate in the race or event and bets wagered on such will be considered losers.
A multiple bet that includes an ante-post leg will be a losing bet in the event the ante-post selection does not participate or run.
13-2 Oriental Charm
15-2 Eight On Eighteen
10-1 Fiery Pegasus
12-1 Cosmic Speed, Fire Attack
14-1 See It Again
16-1 Sail The Seas, Red Palace, Royal Victory
20-1 Confederate
25-1 Rule By Force, Rascallion, Future Swing, Purple Pitcher, Cousin Casey, Double Grand Slam
33-1 Montien, Rascova, Great Plains, Legend Of Arthur, Olivia’s Way, Parisian Walkway, The Real Prince, Spumante Dolce
50-1 Heather’s Boy, Atticus Finch, VJ’s Angel, Rainbow Lorikeet, Rapidash, Greeting My Master, Immediate Edge, Chestnut Bomber, Pacaya, Regulation
66-1 Main Defender, Dave The King and others
75-1 and upwards others
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