Litigation is ready for Durban July call up, says Tarry
Two-time Durban July winning trainer Sean Tarry did not hesitate for a moment on Tuesday to add Litigation to the final field for Saturday's renewal after the scratching of See It Again, who was withdrawn from the race due to an abnormal blood count.
Litigation was the first reserve runner but will now step into starting stall No 15 for the Grade 1 race over 2200m at Hollywoodbets Greyville – the same gate allocated to Tarry's Cousin Casey last year, from which he finished in the runner-up spot.
'I'm happy to have Litigation in the race,' said Tarry. 'He's in good order and I'm sure he will give a good account of himself.
'To be honest, when I nominated the horse, I thought it might be tough to have him right on July day. But actually, as we got closer to the Cup Trial, I was amazed at how well he was doing.'
Litigation ran fourth in the Grade 3 Cup Trial over 1800m at Greyville last month – his first run since the Grade 1 Cape Met back in January.
'I gave him a proper rest after the Met,' said Tarry. 'I thought we may run out of time to first of all qualify and secondly have him perfectly fit. But as it happened, it's all gone very nicely.'
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Tarry, who won the race in 2012 with Pomodoro and 2013 with Heavy Metal, is a regular face when it comes to the July. In 2023, he finished third with Bless My Stars and last year saw Cousin Casey finish second.
'Obviously we've ridden a few rodeos in our time. I've had some good results in the July and some good runs.
'Since I won the race, there may have been one or two years I missed in terms of having runners in the field, but I'm not sure,' said Tarry. 'Litigation has had a good preparation. He's obviously a big outsider, understandably so, and he's an older horse. He's had his chances but he is in good form.
'He's got a good weight and we can only hope. It's hard to say whether he can win it. His last run he did need quite badly and I thought it was a very good run. He certainly would have come on from that run.'
At the age of six, Litigation finally gets a shot at the July.
'He has shown some good form at Greyville and I don't think he'll disgrace himself.'
Litigation's first outing at Greyville was in the 2022 Greyville 1900 (Grade 2), when he finished 3.75-lengths behind Do It Again. That was, however, his last run for that season.
Two years ago, he ran in both the Greyville 1900 as well as the Cup Trial but did not manage to place. It was then decided to geld this son of Greys Inn.
'He was gelded after his stint in the Cup Trial in 2023. He gave a good account of himself in the trial that year when finishing behind Winchester Mansion. He gave him a lot of weight. But it was obvious he needed to be gelded.'
ALSO READ: What Durban July gallop poll revealed
The big question is whether Litigation will finally get a Group 1 win on his résumé.
'Group 1 races for a horse like Litigation will always be a handicap. That's where he will have the best chance,' said Tarry. 'The July is the place where you can run in a Group 1 and also get weight. It will be his best chance of ever pulling it (a Group 1 win) off.'
Although delighted to see Litigation in the final field, Tarry also feels for the connections of See It Again, trained by Michael Roberts.
'It's not nice for the other person to deal with the disappointment,' said Tarry. 'You don't want to have your fortune at the expense of someone else's misfortune, but that's the way the game sometimes works. It's the way life sometimes works.
'But I sort of had a feeling that there may be a scratching and that he (Litigation) could get a run. We were ready for the call-up, and we got it.'
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