Latest news with #SailTheSeas
The South African
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The South African
Justin Snaith scratches Sail The Seas from Hollywoodbets Durban July
Top Cape trainer Justin Snaith has scratched 3-year-old Sail The Seas from the 2025 Hollywoodbets Durban July. No reason for the scratching was given. Snaith still holds a strong hand in the field with a number of other entrants, including current race favourite Eight On Eighteen Hollywoodbets have priced Eight On Eighteen at 5/2 in the ante-post market. The Snaith yard have not won Africa's greatest race since Belgarion do so in 2020, rounding off a hat-trick that was launched in 2018 and 2019 by the iconic Do It Again. This year's R5 million Hollywoodbets Durban July over 2 200m will take place on Saturday, 5 July at Hollywoodbets Greyville. Second declarations close at 11:00 on Monday, 9 June Final supplementary entries close at 11:00 on Tuesday, 17 June, on which date the weights will be published Final Declarations close at 11:00 on Monday, 23 June Final field and draw announcement will take place on Tuesday, 24 June The official gallops will be held on Thursday 26 June A final field of 20 horses will be carded (18 + 2 Reserves) The reserves to be scratched by 08:15 on Friday, 4 July Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1 Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
The Citizen
21-05-2025
- Sport
- The Citizen
Vintage crop for Daily News 2000, but the sips are rather small
Good horses are dodging superstars at Greyville this weekend. Every year racing people pass personal judgements on the quality of the current three-year-old crop of horses. Are the sophomores better or worse than usual? There's seldom consensus; it's 'stronger' or 'weaker' on the spectrum. Occasionally, the young guns are 'exceptional' – like this year. Champion trainer Justin Snaith even went as far as to say the class of 2025 was the 'best ever'. Old gits point out that 1972 saw mighty clashes between Elevation, In Full Flight and Sentinel, but young Snaith's 'ever' was probably within the confines of the 21st century. It is indeed a brilliant crop for any era. From Snaith's yard alone, Eight On Eighteen, Sail The Seas and Okavango are already making marks in the history books. Count in other stables' stars like One Stripe, Fire Attack, Quid Pro Quo, Confederate, Fatal Flaw, Spumante Dolce and My Best Shot and you can't not be impressed. So, then, why are fields for the three-year-old Classic races so tiny? Seven horses for Daily News 2000 Only seven horses are due to line up for the Daily News 2000 at Greyville on Saturday. This is arguably the premier three-year-old contest in the country, with the prestige of Grade 1 status, a total purse of R2-million and valuable merit rating points on offer that could open doors to other important races. A couple of months ago, the Grade 1 Splashout Cape Derby only got five takers, prompting officials to reopen entries and scrape together another two participants. Earlier, the storied WSB Cape Guineas had six runners, and before that the Gauteng Guineas and SA Classic in Joburg had 11 horses each – dismal for a generation of horses just coming to the peak of their abilities. There have been some high-profile injuries reported, such as to Fire Attack and Sail The Seas, but one would then expect a clamour of wannabes for their places. South Africa's merit rating system has been blamed for the problem. There might be some truth in the argument that the Daily News 2000 is positioned close to the Hollywoodbets Durban July on the calendar and owners and trainers of up-and-coming horses prioritise that glamour event and are reluctant to incur heavy MR penalties that might disadvantage them in their quest for immortality. If that's true, and owners and trainers are eschewing the chance to win big money and big trophies, our racing scene is in a strange moment. Rich owners and top-level trainers are vitally important in keeping the game going, but perhaps we have reached the stage when stakes on offer have fallen so far behind the game that they've become of little consideration to the ultra-wealthy among us. Durban July The Durban July itself is also blamed by some. The fact that the country's biggest race is a handicap – with qualifications – is also cited as a reason for connections shying away from Classic clashes with highly rated opposition. No-one is yet suggesting the July change its essential DNA. Nonetheless, there is an argument for the July's conditions to be tweaked to make it a wee bit tougher for three-year-olds. Eight of the last 20 renewals have gone to three-year-olds and a high proportion of the remainder to lightly raced four-year-olds with low weights. Everyone is trying to get their nag selected for the final line-up with the lowest possible MR – and therefore a feather weight. That's clearly a major factor in the outcome and you'd imagine powers-that-be would want to even up the contest a bit and bring some of the country's top older horses back into the July reckoning. There might only be seven horses lining up at Greyville's 2000m mark on Saturday, but they will not be short on ability. Cape Town Met and Cape Derby winner Eight On Eighteen will be a banker for many punters. However, it should be remembered that young horses can improve quite suddenly and rivals such as Okavango, Spumante Dolce and Confederate could be ready to spring a surprise. Daily News 2000 betting 5-10 Eight On Eighteen 6-1 Confederate, Okavango 7-1 Spumante Dolce 10-1 Native Ruler 14-1 Parisian Walkway 40-1 Makazole
The Citizen
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Citizen
Local jockeys good enough for world league
Riding excellence a highlight as KZN's new era dawns. It was a joyous occasion when the KwaZulu-Natal Champions Season cavalcade got rolling at Greyville at the weekend. It marked operator Gold Circle's first race meeting under the new ownership of Hollywood Sportsbook, the saviour of horse racing in the province. Appropriately, Gold Circle boss Michel Nairac, wearing his horse owner hat, led in a feature winner in the shape of the redoubtable Gladatorian. There were plenty of other positive aspects. For example, Justin Snaith declared the present three-year-old crop the best he'd seen – minutes after two of his star sophomores, Sail The Seas and Eight On Eighteen, had completed the Exacta in the WSB Guineas (Grade 2) and sounded a warning that the champion trainer's raiding party from Cape Town would be formidable opponents over the next few months. The excellence of jockeyship was another feature of the day. Muzi Yeni wins on Sail The Seas Local jocks have been guilty of all sorts of silly behaviour lately, but most of them remain, on the whole, very good riders of racehorses. As has been proven many times, South African jockeys can hold their own anywhere in the world and the best of them are the equal of anyone in a saddle. In the East Coast Cup over 2000m, underrated Serino Moodley showed off his good judgement of pace and conditions in bringing Mascherina from near the tail of the field, in heavy going, to win going away up the inside rail. Next, it was Sean Veale with a well-timed challenge on Gladatorian, nabbing highly rated See It Again in the last strides of the Drill Hall Stakes. Then champion jockey Richard Fourie was at his hard-driving best in landing the WSB Fillies Guineas on Mon Petit Cherie. Perhaps the ride of the day came from Muzi Yeni as he kept Sail The Seas sailing to hold off determined challenges from Eight On Eighteen and Cosmic Speed – two of the exemplars of Snaith's golden crop of three-year-olds. The wealth of talent in South African saddles was pulled into focus by the announcement of an international jockeys' super league that will start next year. The 12 riders signed for the new global competition are superstars: Frankie Dettori (Italy/UK/US), Ryan Moore (UK), William Buick (UK), James McDonald (New Zealand/Australia), Joao Moreira (Brazil/Japan/Australia), Zac Purton (Australia/Hong Kong), Christophe Lemaire (France/Japan), Mickael Barzalona (France), Yutaka Take (Japan), Irad Ortiz Jr (Puerto Rico/US), Flavien Prat (France/US), Vincent Ho (Hong Kong) Top SA jockeys South Africa, a relative global racing backwater, would not have expected representation in such company. Yet they wouldn't have been outclassed. The likes of Michael Roberts, Douglas Whyte and Jeff Lloyd flew the flag with honour in the past, while Luke Ferraris, Warren Kennedy and Ryan Munger are current emissaries. Organisers of the new league plan up to 10 fixtures of six-race contests, with Ascot and York in England, Leopardstown and the Curragh in Ireland and Longchamp and Chantilly in France mentioned as possible venues. 'The franchise-based league structure allows a range of commercial and investment opportunities to be progressed and we firmly believe the concept we've developed with our foundation jockeys can help revolutionise global horseracing in the coming years,' said Lachlan Fitt, one of the founders, adding that other jockeys will be drafted into the league as it develops. Female jockeys will probably be the first additions. South African racing fans wouldn't be deluded in thinking of their sole female rider Rachel Venniker as a candidate.
