The crowds at the R3-million Vodacom Durban July of Greyville witnessed one of the most dramatic finishes yesterday in horse racing over 40 years. The finish saw Pocket Power and Dancer’s Daughter dead heated for perhaps the second time in the 111 year history of this horse race.

This is the first win for the champion racehorse Pocket Power at a racecourse besides Kenilworth which he had to share with the British filly, Dancer’s Daughter, one of the back markers of the race.

It was Kevin Shea who had settled the headstrong filly in the preliminaries and the horse race for her complete exploitation. In fact, he and Bernard Fayd’Herbe had done their best with their mounts to reach the final meters of this 2200m horse race and give a nail biting finish to it.

In fact Fayd’Herbe had worked so hard at pushing his horse for a win that he and Mark Khan, the jockey of third placed Bound for Honor, were fined R250 for excessive use of the whip at the finishing stages. The rule in horse racing states that it is not possible to strike a horse for more than three times in consecutive strides.

With this win, I’d say that the two horses get to share the prize money, and thus earn themselves R1.15 million each.