One of the most important attributes any turf champion possesses is the ability to finish powerfully. Marinaresco has that quality, using awesome acceleration to nail Al Sahem on the wire and win the 2017 Durban July. A tough beat second last year, Marinaresco carried top weight to avenge that loss with a stunning stretch run and prevail in a blanket finish where the first eight past the month crossed within 1.4 lengths of the victor.

A game Edict of Nantes was close up third, with robust filly Nightingale and pace-setting Krambambuli sharing fourth. Horizon made a weaving dart through traffic to get beat under half a length into sixth in a race run in about the same final time as the Greyville 2200, taken by front runner, Crowd Pleaser.

Purple Diamond (s/s 105) trained by Sean Tarry, landed what looked like a really strong Golden Horseshoe in a tight verdict over Ancestry (s/s 105). Captain and Master (s/s 102) Flying Free (s/s 102) Hakeem (s/s 102) Naafer (s/s 100) and Woljayrine (s/s 100) all got triple digit speed figs which is very high for youngsters, so they should all be closely followed. The fillies version was not as torridly run: here Desert Rhythm (s/s 93) again got the prize for champion trainer Tarry, who seldom misses out on a haul of trophies on big days.

Another top trainer to feature was Justin Snaith. Heavily punted Bela Bela (s/s 98+) was much the best in the Grade 1 Garden Province Stakes, just as canny James Goodman predicted on his popular Interbet podcast, then Bishops Bounty (s/s 103) kicked past poly ace My Pal Al (s/s 99) in the eThekwini Sprint.

In other action, the well weighted Horse Guards (s/s 102) got away from Attenborough to clinch a hot sprint handicap before Copper Force (s/s 100+) perfectly handled by Richard Fourie, closed out an exciting meeting under Greyville’s lights.