Business Day (Johannesburg)
David Mollett
6 July 2009
Johannesburg — JOCKEY Greg Cheyne realised a lifetime ambition when he won Saturday's Vodacom Durban July on Big City Life and promptly announced he is to continue his career in Hong Kong.
"This is wonderful," said Cheyne after the triumph of trainer Glen Kotzen's three-year-old in SA's most famous race. "But I have a new opportunity ahead of me in Hong Kong and I want to see if I can make my country proud."
Several South African jockeys, notably Dougie Whyte and Felix Coetzee, have enjoyed great success in the former British colony and Cheyne will arrive there brimming with of confidence.
"I've had a record-breaking season (he also won the Gold Cup on Desert Links back in August) and Big City Life's preparation went perfectly -- we haven't had one hiccup," said Cheyne.
Big City Life had staked his claim for top July honours when he captured the KZN Guineas and Daily News 2000. These successes attracted a number of bids from overseas.
A source close to the stable, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "There was a bid of R12m but they (the owners) turned it down as they just wanted a runner in the July."
So you can place a value of R10m on July participation because the stake money for Saturday's win was R1,8m.
Although bookmakers laid some hefty bets on Big City Life, it was a far better result for them than Pocket Power, who was backed as if the result was known. However, the favourite was left with a near-impossible task as he was at the rear of the field as the runners swung into the short Greyville straight.
Lack of a decent pace -- the race was run four seconds slower than the course record -- contributed to the demise of Pocket Power and another well-fancied runner, Kapil. It prompts the question: why were the riders of the two other Mike Bass runners, Meteor Shower and Thundering Jet, not instructed to set a strong gallop, which is a tactic often employed by top Irish trainer Aidan O'Brien?
Bred by Judy Wintle and a R170000 buy from her stud as a yearling, Big City Life gave trainer Glen Kotzen the biggest win of his career after he had expressed the view countless times in recent weeks that he was housing the July winner.
Champion trainer Mike de Kock sent out three runners in the July and will be highly satisfied that Zirconeum and Forest Path rose to the big occasion to fill second and third places.
Zirconeum, winner of last month's Woolavington 2000, always looked overpriced at 50-1 and nearly followed in the footsteps of Ipi Tombe, who captured the race for the De Kock stable in 2002. Considering she was drawn somewhere near the beachfront, it was a remarkable effort by jockey Anthony Delpech to get as close as he did and the daughter of Jallad now looks a bargain buy at R325000.
Owner Bridget Oppenheimer won the July with Hunting Tower two years ago and she was present to see another horse she bred, Forest Path, also overcome a shocking draw to fill third place. The gelding had finished well behind Big City Life in the Daily News 2000, but now produced the sort of form which saw him take the SA Classic at Turffontein in March.
Bass looked stunned that his outsider, Thundering Jet, had finished in front of Pocket Power as the fourth-placed horse is lengths inferior to his stablemate. But it was a memorable moment for Thundering Jet's jockey, Muzi Yeni, who was having his first ride in the July.
Pocket Power did finish best of all to fill fifth place, but his failure to finish in the first four was the main reason the place accumulator returned a big dividend. The six- year-old was followed home by Kapil who was continually denied a clear run as Piere Strydom sought to improve his position on Stan Elley's runner.
River Jetez was also well back turning for home and -- although she passed a number of horses to finish in eighth place -- she was never able to challenge.
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