Five-time Grade 1-winner Rainbow Bridge on Tuesday afternoon again saw the racing gods smile down on him when the final field and draw for this year’s Vodacom Durban July was unveiled.
This two-time Met-winner, who ran second to Do It Again in the 2019 edition of the July, was selected to jump from gate 1.
If ever a horse has had the luck of the July draw, it must be Rainbow Bridge, having started from gate 3 in 2019 and gate 2 last year.
The six-year-old, trained by Eric Sands, beat last year’s July winner Belgarion in the Met earlier this year over 2000m as well as in the Gold Challenge over 1600m last time out. However, he has never won over further and will aim to break the distance hoodoo come Saturday 3 July.
For trainer Justin Snaith, yesterday’s draw was also a case of déjà vu. For the second year running, only one of his runners were selected to jump from the inside half of the starting stalls, and again it was his least fancied runner.
Two-time July winner Do It Again, who drew gate 18 last year, will start from gate 16 this time round while Belgarion (gate 17 last year) will be starting from gate 11.
Snaith is aiming for a record fourth consecutive July victory and should he achieve this feat, it will probably also give him another champion trainer title.
Snaith currently leads the championship race with R13.55-million in stakes won, followed by Paul Peter on R11.81-million in second place and reigning champion Sean Tarry third with R10.71-million.
The final field and draw for the Grade 1 Vodacom Durban July over 2200m (WFA: 3yrs-2.0kg) (Note that saddle cloth number corresponds with draw.)
# Horse Wgt MR Jockey Trainer
1 Rainbow Bridge 60.0 134 L Ferraris Eric Sands
2 Johnny Hero 53.0 106 K Matsunyane Tyrone Zackey
3 Shah Akbar 53.0 119 C Habib Sean Tarry
4 Expressfromtheus 54.0 122 M van Rensburg Stuart Pettigrew
5 Crown Towers (AUS) 53.0 117 L Mxothwa Justin Snaith
6 Rascallion 53.0 123 S Veale Vaughan Marshall
7 Linebacker 53.0 124 G van Niekerk Vaughan Marshall
8 Sovereign Spirit 54.0 122 K de Melo Candice Bass-Robinson
9 Cirillo 53.0 120 L Hewitson Sean Tarry
10 She’s A Keeper 52.0 96 W Kennedy Gareth van Zyl
11 Belgarion 58.0 130 S Khumalo Justin Snaith
12 Nexus 53.0 117 C Zackey Justin Snaith
13 Running Brave 52.5 119 G Cheyne Fanie Bronkhorst
14 Got The Greenlight 55.0 124 M Yeni Joe Soma
15 Matterhorn 53.0 101 S Moodley Alyson Wright
16 Do It Again 57.5 129 R Fourie Justin Snaith
17 Tristful 53.0 113 C Murray Tony Rivalland
18 Kommetdieding 53.0 122 G Lerena H/M Crawford/Rix