Vodacom Durban July (Grade 1)
THE unlikely named Kommetdieding provided one of the biggest fairy tales in the 125-year history of the Durban July when coming home at 10/1 in South Africa’s most famous race at Greyville last Saturday.
Bought for peanuts by a self-made construction boss, the colt is trained by a man who seldom had more than a dozen horses at any one time in his 45-year career until his daughter set about marketing the stable little more than two seasons ago.
The son of Elusive Fort is the first July winner to be trained by a family partnership – Michelle Rix added her name to Harold Crawford’s licence – and only the second to be trained (or part-trained) by a woman.
Much to the disappointment of sponsors Vodacom, the race was run in front of empty stands for the second year running.
Just six days before the race, President Cyril Ramaphosa went on TV to announce a return to Level 4 lockdown in the face of the dreaded third wave, with the Delta variant sweeping the country and sending the infection rate through the roof. One of the consequences was that no-one was allowed into Greyville except those considered essential for the running of a race meeting.
So owner Ashwin Reynolds had to stay at home and watch, with growing excitement, as Gavin Lerena tacked over from his appalling 18 draw before moving up approaching the final turn and hitting the front a furlong out. He beat Linebacker by half a length with fellow joint-favourite Got The Greenlight a close third.
“He was so settled that I was able to make a move at the 800-metre mark and hold in (dual winner) Do It Again,” reported the former champion.
“When I asked him again in the straight he gave me a real good kick and ran to the line.’
Seemingly Lerena’s most difficult task was to lose 4kg in four weeks to get down to the required 53kg (8st 5lb): “I don’t have a lot of meat on the bone as it is, so doing the weight was very tough. Thank goodness for my beautiful wife who prepared my meals wonderfully!”
Belfast man
Crawford, 68, son of a Belfast man who escaped from a Japanese prisoner of war camp in Burma and was rescued off East Africa when found drifting on a raft, has had difficulty speaking since suffering a stroke.
“My dad is at the end of his career and I’m at the start of mine,” said his daughter.
“I still have to learn all he has forgotten but I am so glad to share this moment with him. It all feels so wonderful and so surreal.”
It was Crawford who spotted the colt as a yearling at the Klawervlei Farm Sale held by former Coolmore man John Koster and rang Reynolds to suggest buying the horse. Crawford got him for the equivalent of €3,100. Reynolds, who hadn’t been that keen, chose the name because it is Afrikaans slang for ‘bring it on’– as in ‘I’m not scared, bring it on.’
The construction man turned down big offers before the Met in January only for the horse to suffer a minor setback in the week of the race.
Had the colt won the Met he would have shot up the ratings to such an extent that his July chance would have gone beyond recall. Instead, he got in on a mark only a kilo above bottom weight.
CANDICE Bass-Robinson, the only previous woman to train a Durban July winner (with Marinaresco in 2017), landed the other Grade 1 on the card, the Jonsson Workwear Garden Province Stakes, with 75/1 shot Zarina, a daughter of the highly promising young sire Master Of My Fate.
‘Incredible’ Kasimir
is no back number
IRISH interest came in the next, the Group 2 Post Merchants, in which former champion sprinter Kasimir proved he is no back number with an extraordinary performance under Richard Fourie. Drawn wide, he was dropped out a long way off the pace but finished like a rocket to get up inside the last 50 yards.
“To see him win like that was just incredible – I’m lost for words,” said trainer Justin Snaith who promptly proved he wasn’t. “To all the owners concerned – Bernard Kantor, Paul Shanahan, Peter Doyle, David and Diane Nagle, and W.P. Drew – I want to say that this is an incredible animal and that he will be good for the Cape season.”