Johannesburg — GAUTENG bookmaker Lance Michael, like his UK counterparts in the World Cup, is offering a series of interesting alternative bets on Saturday's Vodacom Durban July at Greyville.

"In the World Cup, they bet on everything - top goal scorer, number of bookings, number of corners and so on, so I got to thinking we should expand our bets on the July," Michael said from the Betting Lounge at Brightwater Commons in Randburg yesterday.

"With trainers Mike de Kock (seven runners) and Mike Bass (four) dominating the field, I have priced up a bet for the winning trainer going 1-4 De Kock, 3-1 Bass and 8-1 any other trainer.

" The possible winning owner is another interesting aspect of the July. Sheikh Mohammed has a strong hand with his De Kock runners, but so has Marsh Shirtliff as he is involved with three fancied runners: River Jetez, Fort Vogue and Pocket Power. For this, we go 7-10 the Sheikh and 12-10 Shirtliff and 10-1 others," Michael said.

"Similar to the World Cup, we'll also be offering individual bets between the leading fancies as to who will finish in front of the other - for example, Irish Flame vs Pocket Power and Bold Silvano vs River Jetez.

"These odds can be viewed on our website."

In the ante-post July market, Pocket Power, who dead-heated with Dancer's Daughter of the Graham Beck stable in 2008, remains in constant demand from punters. His price is now 7-1 following a bet to win R100000 at odds of 9-1.

Pocket Power is trained by Bass and the respected Cape trainer has strong back-up in River Jetez and Fort Vogue.

Jockey Jeff Lloyd has flown back from Hong Kong to partner River Jetez, whom he rode in the 2008 July. Although the former SA champion has never won the country's most famous race, Bass is not concerned about his jockey's so-called "July jinx".

"Jeff is a top-class jockey and the only difference is that he hasn't been lucky enough to get the right rides for the July. Some jockeys get top rides every year. It's worth remembering that Jeff's won an awful lot of races over 2000m at Greyville," said Bass.

Champion jockey-elect Anton Marcus will ride Bass's four-year-old, Fort Vogue, who finished fourth in the J&B Met in January. "He's ridden him fairly often in work this season," said Bass.

Marcus will be chasing his fifth July success following wins on Dancing Duel (1993), El Picha (2000), Dunford (2005) and Hunting Tower (2007). Two other jockeys, Piere Strydom and Antony Delpech, will be bidding for their third victories: Strydom won on London News in 1996 and Trademark in 2001, while Delpech scored on Classic Flag in 1998 and Greys Inn in 2004.

Strydom will be in action at the Vaal today and could go close on Sean Tarry's runner, Rise And Fall, in the third race. The daughter of Badger's Drift switches to the turf after racing predominantly on the sand.

Top weight High Blue Sky should be competitive following a fair effort behind Knock And Announce, while Sleek Sheik will also have her supporters.

KwaZulu-Natal trainer Mark Dixon raids with two horses, and Royal Highness has each-way claims in the fifth.