South Africa’s biggest horse racing weekend of the year starts with Friday’s action at the Fairview track in Greenbushes.
It is a meeting full of quality, with attractive betting opportunities to set the scene for Africa’s greatest race, the Hollywoodbets Durban-July, at Greyville the next day.
Eight races will be run at the Fairview meeting, with the main event being the Breeders Stakes over 1 200m. This race is the first leg of the Eastern Cape Challenge for fillies and mares, and the competition will be fierce.
Each year many punters around the country use the Fairview meeting to build up a kitty to attack the enormous betting pools the next day at the Durban meeting.
The Fairview Jackpot will be a major drawcard for punters, as the pool for this bet has been boosted by a carryover of R250 000 and is expected to grow to R1 million.
For a successful bet, one has to pick the winners of four consecutive races. The Breeders Stakes will be the last leg of the Jackpot, which will be races four to seven.
Nelson Mandela Bay Racing is linked in various ways to the July meeting, but only the stable of the champion trainer Gavin Smith will have a runner on the big day.
Smith will saddle Idita in the very first race, where 14 two-year-old fillies will compete for the prize money of R400 000. Local businessman Kenny Govender is a part-owner of Idita, and will be very interested to see how she does against top opposition.
In the July, where 18 horses will compete for the total prize money of R5 million, two born-and-bred Gqeberha jockeys, Pieré Strydom and JP van der Merwe, will be riding.
Strydom, or Striker as he in known in racing circles, will be riding the favourite See It Again and will be aiming at a record-equalling fifth July victory.
It will be the popular 57-year-old rider’s last July, as he will be retiring soon. He will become the oldest jockey to win the July if he gets See It Again to the winning post first on Saturday.
Van der Merwe will ride one of the four fillies in the race, Silver Darling.
Another huge Gqeberha connection is that two locally bred horses, Dave the King (Ascot Stud) and Billy Bowlegs (Wicklow Stud), will run in the July.
Local racing fans can get together at Fairview on Saturday to follow the action, and have a dip in those huge betting pools.
The Fairview tote will be open, with food and bar facilities available from 10:30. There will also be a jumping castle for the kids.
