Daily News a do-or-die affair

Danie Toerien

The Grade 1 Daily News 2000 on Saturday at Hollywoodbets Greyville could well be the one race of the season where dreams will either come true or be shattered.
A total of eight runners in the field of 11 have Hollywoodbets Durban July aspirations, but only four were included in the first July Log, namely Hazy Dazy (14th), Note To Self (10th), Jan Van Goyen (9th), and Star Major (11th).
Master Spy and Chronicle King did not make the first July log and also don’t feature among the next best eight.
Viva’s Liberte and Happy Verse are also not in the top 20 on the July log, but at least they are in the frame, featuring in the next best eight list.
With that said, it is obvious that for a number of runners the Daily News will be the last roll of the dice, as they might not get another chance to qualify for the R10-million big one which is only five weeks away.
Hazy Dazy, from the yard of Corne Spies, gets her first taste of the KwaZulu-Natal track, and it will be interesting to see how she runs down at sea level.
A convincing winner of the Fillies Mile, the Fillies Guineas, and the SA Fillies Classic at Turffontein this season, she should actually be guaranteed a place in the final Durban July field, but she will have to show something just to make sure.
Note To Self, one of the early July favourites, was bumped up by a massive 22 merit rating points after his runner-up finish behind Wish List in the Cape Derby back in February. The rating and his ability is not in question as he finished third to Okavango in a Conditions Plate in his comeback, but a good showing is required to confirm his early July favouritism.
Jan Van Goyen, who boasts the same rating as Note To Self on 118, travels past 1 800m for the first time, so this is somewhat of an acid test for Mike and Mathew de Kock’s star.
He will be having his second run after gelding tomorrow and with Callan Murray in the saddle, it could well end up being a do-or-die run.
Viva’s Liberte, trained by Candice Bass, scored a double in his first two outings, but considering his second – and last – career win came in a Class C event over 1 400m at Durbanville, he faces the July axe. For this son of Vercingetorix the Daily News is definitely a shape up or ship out race.
The same goes for Happy Verse, also from the Snaith yard. A 10-point increase in his rating after a runner-up finish to Jan Van Goyen in the Cape Guineas does put him in the picture to sneak into the July, but that all depends on his effort in the Daily News.
The Daily News is definitely the high-stakes race of the season to date.

Selections:

Race 1: 1 Two Tigers, 7 Brigitte Anne, 2 Scotch Again, 5 Free Roaming

Race 2: 7 Brightsunnyday, 3 Quandura, 2 Bourbon’s Beast, 9 Captain T

Race 3: 7 De Vlugge, 5 Perilla, 6 Bright And Brazen, 3 Forward Motion

Race 4: 2 Impressive, 10 Benny And Paul, 11 Coast Of The Sun, 4 Navigation

Race 5: 2 Curious Girl, 9 Continentalexpress, 5 Saxon Dynasty, 11 Ahead Of The Facts

Race 6: 5 Wish List, 7 Keukenhof, 4 Callmegetrix, 1 Beach Verse

Race 7: 3 Hazy Dazy, 6 Note To Self, 7 Jan Van Goyen, 11 Star Major

Race 8: 5 Whatastar, 3 Sign Of Fate, 1 Thought Control, 7 Captain’s Pride

Race 9: 11 Definitely Yes, 2 Gallic Victor, 1 Black Frost, 6 Ireland Forever