Two weekend winners have been supplemented into the R10m showpiece.
See It Again has been withdrawn from the Durban July. Picture: Gerhard Duraan/Gallo Images
Prominent horse owner Nick Jonsson’s dream of leading in the winner of the 2026 Hollywoodbets Durban July in his famous pink and green silks have been dashed by the withdrawal from the big race of his two well-fancied candidates, See It Again and Eight On Eighteen.
The two horses, trained by national champion Justin Snaith, were among a slew of notable entries scratched at the July’s second declaration stage on Monday morning.
Also missing from the list of entries still standing were 2025 July winner The Real Prince, Highveld Grade 1 champs Atticus Finch and Fire Attack, and star three-year-old Grand Empire.
See It Again and Eight On Eighteen jointly topped the ante-post betting boards from mid-February when the race sponsor opened the market, only drifting slightly to 7-1 in recent weeks.
Disappointing performances
See It Again, who won the WSB Cape Town Met at Kenilworth in January and the Premier’s Champions Challenge at Turffontein in April, and Eight On Eighteen, the 2025 Met champ and runner-up in last year’s July, both ran disappointingly in Saturday’s Gold Challenge at Greyville (8th and 10th in a 12-horse field) – an engagement that was seen as their main July preparation.
With two of his big guns out of the attack, Snaith has declared jockey engagements for his remaining six hopefuls. Andrew Fortune partners Wish List, Richard Fourie is on Note To Self, Keagan de Melo on Native Ruler, JP van der Merwe on Regulation, Callan Murray on Legal Counsel and visiting Australian Zack Lloyd on Happy Verse.
The Real Prince finished fourth in the Gold Challenge, but well adrift of winner Questioning and was clearly not at his best.
Entry list trimmed to 29
The original July entry list of 63 trimmed down to 44 at first declaration stage and is now at 29 – which includes two supplementary entries.
The latecomers are Mike and Mathew de Kock-trained Aladdin’s Lamp, a five-year-old who impressed in winning Sunday’s TAB Jubilee Stakes over 1800m at Turffontein, and Andre Nel-trained Zeitz, who claimed the 1800m Betgames Cup Trial at Greyville on Saturday.
The second July log, reflecting the selection panel’s latest thinking on the make-up of the final field of 18, is due this week.
The deadline for supplementary entries is Monday 15 June, when weights for the R10-million showpiece will be published. The final field unveiling is on Tuesday 23 June.
