This year’s July Handicap, run at Greyville Racecourse in Durban, has always been run on the first Saturday in July. For the first time in history, it is going to be moving, because of the World Cup, to the end of July. The end of July also coincides with the end of the racing season in South Africa and that three week delay may very well be to a different winner than one may have expected it if it had been three weeks earlier. Horses recovering from other races will have longer to do so and others may not be at their very best at the end of July.

An interesting fact that very few people know is that horse races are often run according to the age of a horse, and the age of the horse is determined, not by the day on which it was born, although that obviously is a factor, but in the racing season in which it was born, each racing season running from 1 August to 31 July. Essentially, all horses in the country turn a year older on 1 August.