With just a few days to go to the 125th running of the Vodacom Durban July, the traditional beans give very few pointers for the punters eagerly making up their minds about which thoroughbred to back in the big race.
The Vodacom Durban July race meeting will be available to view on Tellytrack (DSTV Channel 249) and via the official broadcast on SuperSport 4 (DSTV Channel 204) from 1pm to 4pm on Saturday. The first race is at 11.15am with the VDJ run at 3pm and the 10th race starting at 4.45pm. On Tuesday, shortly after the final field of eighteen runners and two reserves were announced, beans were planted to predict how this year’s race will be. The bean that flourishes the most will determine who the winner is. According to race organisers, based on the beans, the widely fancied ‘Got The Greenlight’ seems to have a short lead over the rest of the field, with ‘She’s A Keeper’ poised to cause an upset. “The beans also point to good form for defending champion ‘Belgarion’, his stable-mate and double-winner ‘Do It Again’ and ‘Rascallion’. Under the current lockdown rules, betting will be purely online with punters encouraged to use web and telephone-based options like TABGold to safely lay their bets for the big race,” said the organisers.
Following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s National Address on Sunday night, which moved South Africa to adjusted alert level 4, a statement from the National Horseracing Authority (NHA) on Monday, Gold Circle confirmed that the Vodacom Durban July race day will go ahead on Saturday, 3 July. On-course attendance at all race meetings in KwaZulu-Natal, from Monday, was limited and will continue only allowing essential services personnel such as trainers, jockeys, grooms, NHA staff and Gold Circle staff to ensure each race meeting can proceed until further notice.
