Summary report and photos from the Vodacom Durban July

Mike de Kock trained filly Igugu provided the cherry on the top for the capacity crowd at the 2011 Vodacom Durban July as the pre-race favourite romped home to an emphatic victory in the R3 million feature race to ecstatic acclaim from the big crowd basking in the Winter sunshine.

Igugu won by a length from Gary Alexander trained Pierre Jourdan closely followed by fancied thoroughbreds English Garden and The Apache with the tote paying six places. The result was great news for punters at the climax of a hugely successful Vodacom Durban July.

The pre-race favourite Igugu, a Zulu word for 'jewel' or 'something to treasure' was the fourth three year old filly to win the race. The last filly to win the Grade 1 Vodacom Durban July was Ipi Tombi in 2002, who was also trained by Mike de Kock.

The race was however marred by tragedy as the 2009 winner Big City Life had to be euthanized after breaking down past the post.

It was the second year in a row that the maestro trainer Mike de Kock and one of his chief stable jockeys Anthony Delpech had won the race and it was a fourth July win for both of them respectively. Delpech joined Harold “Tiger” Wright and Anton Marcus as the only jockey to ever ride four July winners, while de Kock is fast on his way to matching the race’s training greats, Syd Laird (seven winners) and Terrance Millard (six).

Delpech revealed that de Kock had told him that Safwan would not set the pace, but that he shouldn't worry.
"He said to me 'one will lead and you sit second'.", he said, "I was so happy when I got a good position for free. I will never ride a filly as good this.”

De Kock said, “She has a culture of winning, she always wants to win. She has heart and things have gone so well into the race, we had to be quietly confident. Yebo Igugu!”

An ecstatic Andre Macdonald said, “I can’t think straight and can’t tell u how I feel. They were coming at her and I thought they were going to catch her but everybody screamed and I think we all pushed her over the line.”

This was the tenth year of the Vodacom Sponsorship and in it’s first year the race was also won by a Mike de Kock-trained three-year-old filly, the great Ipi Tombe.

Despite the current economic conditions the tote takings look as though they will be significantly up from last year's event.