By David Thiselton

The Andre Nel-trained Vercingetorix gelding ZEITZ won the Betgames Cup Trial Gr 3 over 1800m on Saturday at Hollywoodbets Greyville and has been supplemented for the Hollywoodbets Durban July Gr 1.

The Vercingetorix gelding ran off a 107 merit rating on Saturday and carried 56,5kg to a cosy 0,70 length victory over two Hollywoodbets Durban July entries, I SALUTE YOU and JP’S PALACE.

Summerveld assistant to the Nel yard, Byron Forster said, “He is a horse you have to give a lot of TLC to, but I am very happy with the way he has pulled up.”

He spoke about his stamina capacity, considering the Hollywoodbets Durban July is run over 2200m, “There are some questions marks but he is laid back and he has shown in his work that he settles beautifully. Obviously we will consider taking the blinkers off. In the second dam there is a lot of staying pedigree there and I think he will stay. The furthest he has run over was in last year’s Lucky Fish Cape Derby over 2000m and he was well beaten (12.25 lengths behind Equus Horse Of The Year EIGHT ON EIGHTEEN), but he pulled up sore after that run, I believe, so I think a line can be drawn through that run. He is two from three over 1800m. He won last year’s Politician Stakes Gr 3 and he was running on strongly in last year’s Cup Trial but had a wall of horses in front of him and had nowhere to go. He has now backed up the potential of that run with his win in the Cup Trial on Saturday.”

Byron believes he has the class to be a contender in the Hollywoodbets Durban July Gr 1 too. A precedent was set for him by a Nel-trained horse last year, SELUKWE, who finished third in the big race.

SELUKWE, like ZEITZ, had won a traditional Hollywoodbets Durban July pointer, the WSB 1900 Gr 3, running off a 103 merit rating and carrying 54kg and had followed up with a strong-finishing 2,65 length third in the Hollywoodbets Durban July off a 111 merit rating. Under last year’s conditions SELUKWE was actually 2kg under sufferance.

The interesting point there is ZEITZ might not be as badly in as SELUKWE was with the new weight structures and yet Byron does not think there is much between them.

He said, “I don’t think there was much between them last season. He just gave us that hint that he could be on a par with a horse like SELUKWE and we know what the latter went and did.  He has obviously got to prove it at Gr 1 level now, but he has got all the makings to be a nice horse. He has shown it in his form. If you go and look closely at his form he has run with some quality horses and he hasn’t been far off them or has been in front of them.

“The ideal merit rating for a four-year-old Hollywoodbets Durban July runner to have is 110, which means coming in with bottom weight of 52kg and not being under sufferance. ZEITZ should be close to that mark after the handicappers have assessed the race.

The Maine Chance Farms-bred gelding entered the Hollywoodbets Durban July Gr 1 betting with the sponsor at 25/1 and has already shortened to 20/1.