Crawford looks for Met-July double
Durban - Trainer Brett Crawford scored his second Grade 1 double of the season at Greyville on Saturday, courtesy of Edict Of Nantes and Lady Of The House, and stands a fine chance of becoming the first trainer since 2001 to do the Met-Vodacom Durban July double in the same season, albeit with two different horses.
Mike Bass achieved the feat with Bunter Barlow and Trademark in 2001 and also with Pocket Power in 2008.
Mayfair Speculators-owned Count Dubois colt Edict Of Nantes was an impressive winner of the Daily News 2000 under Anton Marcus.
His supporters will be waiting on tenterhooks to see how the handicapper views the race, but they need not be too anxious.
He beat the 106-rated SA Derby winner Al Sahem by 0,50 lengths and confirmed the Investec Cape Derby form virtually exactly with Horizon.
The only other horse in the top five with form over a distance beyond 1 600m was 81-rated Glider Pilot.
It might have been a different story if 101-rated SA Derby runner up Pagoda had finished fifth instead of sixth, as he could then have been used as a line horse.
As things stand Edict Of Nantes looks likely to have a nice galloping weight of somewhere from 54kg to 55kg in the July.
Betting World reacted by installing him the new 5-1 favourite.
Al Sahem is at 11-2 and previous favourite Marinaresco is now 6-1.