It was a mistake to write off The Conglomerate as an awkward horse fated not to fulfil early promise. On Saturday at Greyville, he stunned the masses when winning the Durban July under expert handling from Piere Strydom. Earlier in his career he had run a speed figure of 108, which meets the par required to win a race like the July, but subsequent efforts had been off-putting. Credit is due trainer Joey Ramsden who did outstanding work to get The Conglomerate right for the big day.
Marinaresco hurtled through to run a close second in a tremendous effort by a young horse. With his brilliant acceleration he must be worth following in future Graded races. Mac de Lago and It’s My Turn completed a tough quartet sequence which paid over 150K as favoured entries French Navy, Bela Bela and Solid Speed flopped. Punters found most results on July day difficult to work out, which lead to some huge dividends.
Excellent performances came from Zodiac Ruler (speed score 106), a sensational looker and mover who won the Golden Horseshoe most stylishly, whilst grey flyer Isca (s/s 107) relished the turn back to a fast run sprint on the Poly when blitzing his rivals. Sail South (s/s 108) also won in a runaway, proving too swift for a potent handicap field in the last race.
Earlier Inara (s/s 98 +) won her fifth Grade 1 – a notable achievement. She is one tough filly, shipping right around the country to pick up Grade 1’s in all major centres. She again used her natural gate speed to secure a handy position before turning it on in the straight at the right moment, then staving off Olma’s late rally.
Trainer Mike de Kock’s entries remarkably filled the first four in the Gold Vase over 3000m. Enaad, Smart Mart, Kingston Mines and Kinaan did the trick for the legendary horseman renowned for getting his horses incredibly fit. Finally, it was great to see last year’s unlucky July loser Punta Arenas come to light. He toted top weight to an easy victory over 2200m, showing that he still has it in him to run really smart races, even though he is rising eight years-old.