Note To Self: Watch the weight.
Greyville Racecourse will host the Daily News 2000 and the Woolavington 2000 on Saturday. Picture: Darren Stewart/Gallo Images
The Hollywoodbets Durban July picture becomes a lot clearer with the running of the Daily News 2000 and the Woolavington 2000, pundits pronounce every year.
Yes and no.
No, because results of those races, involving July contenders, put dollops more comparative form into the boiling data stew. Complexity is added to the punters’ work – balancing weights, distance proficiency, jockey form, age, gender, superstition, vibes and more.
Yes, because these two major July trials can narrow down a likely field for the R10-million 2200m showpiece in a month’s time – certainly in terms of the three-year-old and female entries.
The best three-year-olds have already come through wringers in the Dingaans, Punters Cup, Guineas, Classics, Derbies etc, but it’s the Daily News that determines which among them is really good enough for the country’s elite contests in the future of dreams.
In recent times it had become a trick of the trainers’ trade to swerve the Daily News by “qualifying” for the July via other routes – thus landing a young improver in the big-race line-up relatively lightly raced and with a light weight. In a world of tight statistical margins, this seemed – and often proved to be – a super-smart hack, as modern jargon would have it.
To preserve the integrity of the July as the premier horse race, organisers shook up rules for this year’s edition, striving to make it a true handicap of meritocracy, with no special qualifying races and new age and gender allowances.
This has had the effect of turning the 2026 Daily News 2000 into something of a last chance saloon for some young July hopefuls.
Daily News contenders
On Saturday, nearly all 11 Daily News runners will be prepping for the July but half of them will have the more pressing mission of actually making it into the big race – hopefully without incurring too heavy a penalty in the process.
Ante-post favourite for both races, Note To Self (14-10 and 4-1), is assured of a July berth, being No 10 on the first July log published a fortnight ago.
However, if the Justin Snaith-trained gelding justifies the betting support on Saturday, all eyes will be on the weight the handicappers lump on him.
Daily News runners not currently on the log of July “probables” include Happy Verse (8-1), Viva’s Liberte (16-1), Chronicle King (16-1) and Master Spy (66-1).
Other interesting July entries competing at the weekend include Curious Girl (14-10 to win the Lonsdale Cup at Greyville but not among the current July top 20), Wish List (1-2 favourite for the Woolavington, 8-1 for the July, and No 7 on the July log), Callmegetrix (8-1 for the Woolavington but not on the July log) and Hazy Dazy (10-1 for the Daily News, 25-1 for the July, and No 14 on the log).
If Saturday’s action at Greyville unscrambles that lot and makes the July picture clearer, well and good. Chances are, though, the outlook will be foggier.
Other upcoming races
Then we can look forward to the following weekend and the Gold Challenge at Greyville when many of the older July entries – such as The Real Prince, Eight On Eighteen and See It Again – engage in some sparring. And there’s also the Jubilee Handicap at upcountry Turffontein – the true last chance saloon.
The next round of Durban July declarations must be made by Monday 8 June, when an R8,000 fee is payable for hopefuls standing their ground. Final supplementary entries are due a week later at R34,000 a pop.
The deadline for final declarations is Monday 22 June, with R50,000 payable, and the final-field selection of 18 runners and two reserves will be made thereafter.
