Danie Toerien
Well, with a whopping R5-million in stakes, the Hollywoodbets Durban July can most certainly play a huge role in determining whether Justin Snaith will retain the title, or whether Paul Peter will get to hold the most coveted prize for the first time.
The Champion Trainer title is awarded to the conditioner who wins the most stakes money in the season, and at the time of writing Peter was on R21,177,687, compared to Snaith’s R18,378,025.
That’s a difference of basically R2,8-million.
With the Hollywoodbets Durban July paying just a tad over R2,9-million to the winner, that deficit can either be wiped out completely, should one of Snaith’s five runners win, or doubled if Peter’s lone Astrix crosses the line first.
“The July will definitely be a determining factor,” said Peter three days before the running of Africa’s greatest race.
“But that’s part of the game. All we can do is keep on going and keep on grinding.
“It’s very difficult for one trainer to take the bulk of the prize money. But whatever happens, there are other supporting races on the card as well.
“There’s also the big day at the end of July, so there’s still a long way to go.
“We are going to give it our best shot. Justin has made up some ground on us, but we like our horses and we will fight to the end.
“Astrix is super well, so we are going into the race with confidence,” said Peter.
While Jonathan Snaith agrees that the July can play a huge role in the champion trainer race, he reckons that the number of runners is not that important.
“The July is the hardest race to win Africa,” said Snaith.
“The thing about this race is that you can 17 of the 18 runners and still not win it.
“Winning it often depends on luck in running, as we saw with Do It Again last year. He ran a cracker, but nothing went his way. He never got a chance to show his mettle.
“If things don’t go your way up the top of the straight, it’s very hard to get it right with the short run-in.”
For both the Snaith and Peter yards, this year’s renewal of the July could be their most important ever. And who knows, maybe they will both stand on the sideline and watch another trainer scoop Africa’s biggest prize.