Durban - If the bean predictors are spot on, the widely-touted favourite, Hawwaam, will not be first past the post in this year’s Vodacom Durban July.
The traditional beans planted by Gold Circle revealed that Rainbow Bridge would enter the Gold Horseshoe Winner’s Box in front of the grandstand after winning Race 7 for the R4 250 000 prize money.
Ken Tweddell, Gold Circle’s marketing consultant, said the three favourites were Hawwaam, Do It Again and Rainbow Bridge.
Not surprisingly, their three corresponding plants were the tallest, having grown more than 5cm from the soil.
Each pot plant was labelled with the name of a horse.
It is said that the potting mix was sprinkled with soil taken from the winning post at Greyville Racecourse before the pots were left to rest in a sunny spot in their nursery.
Tweddell said the beans were planted five weeks ago before the world-famous Vodacom Durban July, which will be held on Saturday, at the Greyville racecourse.
Last month Hawwaam galloped to first place to win the Daily News 2000 race.
The Daily News asked punter Raymond Harriparsad for his picks to win the main race.
Harriparsad said Hawwaam was the favourite, but he threw a spanner in the works.
“Made to Conquer for the win, Head Honcho second, Tilbury third and Rainbow Bridge fourth,” he said.
Harriparsad said he picked Made To Conquer for the win because the horse came second in last year’s race and he expected it to do better this year.
Another punter, Vishen Rupee, said his top four horses, in no particular order, were Lady In Black, Do It Again, Made To Conquer and Barahin.
Rupee said he picked Lady In Black because the trainer, Dennis Drier, had not won the Durban July in quite some time and the horse had a good weight this year.
“Do It Again has a top trainer (Justin Snaith) and a top jockey (Richard Fourie),” Rupee said.