Oriental Charm wins the Durban July

Oriental Charm narrowly won the R5-million Hollywoodbets Durban July at Greyville on Saturday.

Trained by Brett Crawford and ridden by Juan-Paul van der Merwe, the three-year-old colt started at odds of 10-1 (fourth favourite) and won by a short-head.

In second place was Sean Tarry-trained Cousin Casey, ridden by S’Manga Khumalo. Third was Flag Man, trained by Gareth van Zyl and ridden by Serino Moodley.

Rachel Venniker, the first female jockey to ride in South Africa’s premier horse race in its 128-year history, finished unplaced aboard 40-1 outsider Hluhluwe after suffering major interference in the running.

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It was Crawford’s second Durban July win in a row, after he led in Winchester Mansion in 2023.

Oriental Charm is owned in a partnership by billionaire banker Greg Bortz, who has spearheaded a major rejuvenation of Cape Town racing over the past two years.

A capacity crowd of 50 000 gathered at Durban’s historic inner-city racecourse to watch the Grade 1 contest over 2200m.

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