What’s Tina Turner got to do with the action at Greyville?

Watching old videos of Tina Turner performing (Simply) The Best – after hearing of the great singer’s death this week – the central role of horses is striking.

At least three of the many vids of the mega-hit have galloping, prancing and pawing horses. The “official music video” even has the Queen of Rock herself riding a dark steed across desert sands. What looks like a pirate Bulgarian production has scores of nags in desert, beach and prairie settings, alongside sundry dreamy looking young women in billowing dresses.

The Best

In 1989, The Best was the first song Tina produced herself and she came up with the equine notion while driving her Jeep along a highway and “felt the song in her veins and felt free like a horse”, according to Tina Turner Online website. It seems she reckoned the words didn’t have to be about a bloke and could be an ode to an animal.

There are urban myths and debates about which horse she is serenading, with racing fans weighing in on the side of legendary American racer Secretariat.

Interestingly, The Best was used to promote rugby league in 1993, with Tina doing it live in stadiums in Australia. It was also adopted as a theme by Ayrton Senna, Martina Navratilova and a great many boxers and wrestlers – not to mention Rangers Football Club blaring it out of speakers at their ground in Glasgow.

Grade 1 races

Lyrics and melodies of The Best and other Tina songs will be earworms for many a racegoer at Greyville in Durban this weekend, when one of the most important pre-Durban July race meetings is staged.

Top of the bill are two Grade 1 races, the Daily News 2000 and the Woolavington, and a Grade 3, the Lonsdale Stirrup Cup. A host of July entries line up, striving to improve ratings and crack a nod for the country’s premier horse race on 1 July.

July ante-post favourite See You Again will be in the spotlight in the Daily News – not least because the colt has two of the local turf’s legends in his corner: Muis Roberts and Striker Strydom.

Assessment of the 2023 crop of three-year-olds will be a lot clearer after the running of this race – though a definitive view on simply the best might have to wait a while longer.

Any one of Cousin Casey, Anfields Rocket, Dave The King, Without Question, Son of Raj and Shoemaker could supplant See You Again in public opinion with a superior performance.

In the Woolavington – opened to older females for the first time – three-year-olds might find they do not have quite enough weight advantage at this stage of their lives. So, Rain In Holland, Marina, Silver Darling and Gilded Butterfly could dominate. None Other and Saartjie are the youngsters to include.

Tina Turner recorded a version of Glory Glory back in the 1970s, and that might be a cue to side with Raiseahallelujah in the Lonsdale. Candice Dawson’s consistent gelding is a course and distance winner whose last, disappointing race looks like an outlier.

A R6-million Pick 6 is the main attraction on the betting menu.