Latest news with #DolphinsCupTrial
The Citizen
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Citizen
James Crawford: Cracking the Durban July code
The young trainer is aiming at another big race target. A month ago, 25-year-old James Crawford took over sole proprietorship of one of the biggest racehorse training yards in Cape Town – in fact, in the country. Yet this week he was back pottering around an old stamping ground on the Highveld. The reason was simple: Randjesfontein training centre near Midrand is where Hollywoodbets Durban July winners have been coming from lately. Both 2023 July champion Winchester Mansion and 2024 champ Oriental Charm were prepared at Randjes – both of them by young Crawford. Don't mess with a winning recipe. James's father Brett built a powerhouse racing stable after relocating from his birthplace in Zimbabwe decades ago. James grew up with the smell of horses and hay ever present, but when he matriculated from elite Cape school SACS the youngster was not convinced the racing game was for him. He took a gap year, went surfing and skateboarding, toyed with the idea of university. Eventually, a lack of ready cash prompted him to lean on his old man for a job. 'Initially the bug never really bit; it was more of a money thing,' James told an In The Box Seat podcast. 'But as I started working and saw all the blood, sweat and tears that went into getting a horse into the winner's box … it resonated with me. 'That connection you get with an individual horse … that's when the bug bit.' The bug drove him to learn all he could about the job – 'how and why my dad did certain things, how he fed his horses…'. Expanding to the Highveld A few years down the line, Brett felt the need to open a satellite training yard on the Highveld. Cape Town racing was going downhill fast at the time and options were being explored. James journeyed into the interior at the tender age of 21 to take charge of a string of nine horses. He spent three months learning at the foot of Randjesfontein master Mike de Kock, to whom Brett had been an assistant yonks before. 'Mr de Kock' did everything differently to Brett, so as confusing as it was at the time, the young man absorbed priceless new lessons. Being thrown in at the deep end proved a master stroke. Winners started flowing from the assistant trainer's yard, many of them horses who weren't cracking it in Cape Town. Within a couple of years, yard numbers had swelled to 50. Then came Winchester Mansion. Brett and James decided raiding KwaZulu-Natal from the Highveld was the way to go. They started posting superb win ratios at the coast when commuting horses back and forth from their Highveld base. Promising young gelding Winchester Mansion was floated down the N3 to run second in the Grade 2 WSB 1900, and then again a month later to win the Dolphins Cup Trial – both classic Durban July prep races. Common wisdom had it that three raids would be a raid too far, but Winchester Mansion nixed that notion to give Brett his first July trophy. Repeat process The whole process was repeated exactly a year later with Oriental Charm, with James the man at the cutting edge of the Randjes prep and the carefully planned travel arrangements. James, already seen in the game as a phenomenon, was brought fully into the spotlight as a full partner with his father: B/J Crawford printed in the racecard beneath their runners. Suddenly Brett got an offer he couldn't refuse – a training position in the racing heaven of Hong Kong. James ascended to the throne in Philippi on 1 June 2025. Now he's back upcountry, shuttling from Joburg to Durban in search of an amazing Durban July triple – though this time it'll be in his name alone. If either of James's runners, Oriental Charm or Pomodoro's Jet, wins Saturday's Durban July, he'll become the youngest trainer to saddle a winner of the big race since David Payne with In Full Flight at the age of 24 in 1972. ALSO READ: Exciting Hollywoodbets Durban July final field unveiled
The Citizen
11-06-2025
- Sport
- The Citizen
Underworld plots a Durban July heist
A big race final log has been unveiled amid a scramble for places. Bowlers take great delight in hurling surprise bouncers at batters who appear settled at the crease. Jolt them out of a comfort zone is the idea. Racehorse trainer Justin Snaith did something of the sort this week when he made four-year-old Underworld a supplementary entry for the Hollywoodbets Durban July, to be run at Greyville next month. Underworld wasn't among the 61 first nominations, or a late addition at the first supplementary stage of South Africa's premier horse race. Indeed, Snaith watchers had more than enough to keep them busy with a dozen or so of his July aspirants, including a clutch of them near the top of the betting boards. Then Underworld ran in the Grade 3 1800m Dolphins Cup Trial at Greyville this past weekend and did fairly well – as he should have as a 3-1 favourite. He finished a close runner up to 40-1 roughie Madison Valley, with 14-1 chance On My Honour just behind in third place. Here's the thing: Madison Valley and On My Honour were both Durban July entrants and the surprise Cup Trial result, along with a slew of scratchings at second declaration stage, saw them catapulted into the final July log announced on Tuesday. Neither had featured among the 20 'most favoured' entries of a few weeks earlier. Underworld gave 2kg and 1.5kg respectively to his adversaries in the Cup Trial, but the distance and venue were a good pre-July test and indicated that Snaith's charge might not be wildly outclassed in the big race. Shaking things up The bottom rungs of the Durban July ladder are always hotly contested spaces but connections of horses that make it into 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th on the final log can generally start planning their outfits for the parade ring at Greyville on the first Saturday of the seventh month. Comfort zone; but here comes the bouncer. Based on his merit rating of 108, Underworld has no chance of trumping Madison Valley (115) and On My Honour (116) in the minds of the July selection panel. But Snaith is fond of a mischievous argument and a dig at the official handicappers. One of the horses on those lower rungs of the new July log is My Best Shot in 17th spot. No-one can remember when last there was an Eastern Cape-based runner in the July and many would be delighted to see Alan Greeff saddle up his star three-year-old for the big race – and Snaith wouldn't be a popular chap if his Underworld nixed the country cousin. Merit rating adjustments following the weekend's hectic pre-July action saw Oriental Charm and Gladatorian both hiked to 127, which means they will share the July's top burden of 60kg with See It Again – when weights are concluded next week. Cape Town Met champion Eight On Eighteen – who wasn't in action at the weekend – still tops the final log with his MR of 129. The race conditions stipulate that, as a three-year-old, he cannot carry more than 57kg. The log indicates that there is unlikely to be a female horse in the 2025 July. Three fillies are on the 'next best' list, but they will only come into contention for a place in the field if there are scratchings aplenty in the coming week. Hollywoodbets Durban July Log of 10 June 1. EIGHT ON EIGHTEEN (3C) Justin Snaith 129 2. ORIENTAL CHARM (4C) James Crawford 127 3. SEE IT AGAIN (5G) Michael Roberts 127 4. ROYAL VICTORY (5G) Nathan Kotzen 125 5. CONFEDERATE (3G) Fabian Habib 118 6. GLADATORIAN (5G) Stuart Ferrie 127 7. PURPLE PITCHER (4C) Robyn Klaasen 122 8. ATTICUS FINCH (5G) Alec Laird 121 9. SELUKWE (5G) Andre Nel 111 10. THE REAL PRINCE (4G) Dean Kannemeyer 120 11. OKAVANGO (3G) Justin Snaith 120 12. NATIVE RULER (3G) Justin Snaith 119 13. LEGEND OF ARTHUR (3C) Sean Tarry 117 14. IMMEDIATE EDGE (3G) Mike / Mathew de Kock 108 15. MADISON VALLEY (4G) Frank Robinson 115 16. ON MY HONOUR (3G) Glen Kotzen 116 17. MY BEST SHOT (3G) Alan Greeff 116 18. FUTURE SWING (5G) Justin Snaith 117 19. MUCHO DINERO (5G) Justin Snaith 115 20. POMODORO'S JET (6G) James Crawford 118 Next 9 in alphabetical order BEATING WINGS (4F) Stuart Pettigrew 113 HOLDING THUMBS (4G) Glen Kotzen 107 JOY AND PEACE (4F) Alan Greeff 110 LITIGATION (6G) Sean Tarry 113 MAGIC VERSE (4G) Justin Snaith 113 RAINBOW LORIKEET (4F) Candice Bass-Robinson 111 SON OF RAJ (5G) Tony Peter 119 THE EQUATOR (IRE) (4C) Tony Peter 110 THUNEE PLAYA (4C) Mano Pandaram 104 Final supplementary entries close on Tuesday 17 June after which the weights will be published by the National Horseracing Authority. Final declarations are due on Monday 23 June and the field of 18 runners, with two reserves, will be revealed on Tuesday 24 June when the draw for barrier positions will also take place.
