July has been a blast, and maybe that’s because I was in South Africa when it started and at the event of events in all of the African continent—The Hollywoodbets Durban July!

BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL From left: Equine welcome to one of the VIP tents at Durban July 2023; and some of the horse racing event's fashionable guests

Let’s just say that Durban July is South Africa’s answer to the Royal Ascot, but style in this city on the east coast of South Africa, right on the bank of the Indian Ocean, isn’t governed by hats, gloves, and frocks worthy of the royals in attendance as the Royal Ascot is, founded as it was by Queen Anne in 1711.

The late Queen Elizabeth II used to frequent the Ascot Racecourses, and so everybody dressed in part to show her respect. We have yet to see if they would do the same for Camilla Queen Consort.

Durban July is also up there in the league of the Melbourne Cup, during which in 1965, British model Jean Shrimpton caused a commotion when she appeared in a mini-dress to present awards. The outrage was only natural—After all, it wasn’t until 1986, with the passing of Australia Act 1986, that the last vestiges of British constitutional as well as cultural and moral authority over Australia were eliminated.
South Africa, too, was a British colony, from 1795 to 1803 or even until 1961, despite the establishment of its own white people government in 1901, which turned it from colony into a Union, but there’s nothing quite conformist about the fashion scene in Durban July.

CONTROVERSIAL DRESS British model Jean Shrimpton wore a controversial white minidress which was later referred to as a pivotal moment in women's fashion

Black women, in their fashion, are straight up and in your face, fiercely feminine, their style independent, all their own. In my book, they’re superfly in their afro, their braids, their press n’ curl, or their close crop, with lashes that curl up to the sky, lips that are made for serious kissing, backsides that rock the world, and a boldness that outcolors rainbows!

SPECTACULAR! SPECTACULAR! Extra is the dress code at Durban July

They do say that, whether at Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in Paris or the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore or the Saudi Cup in Riyadh, where the Fashion Commission of the Ministry of Culture has only lately imposed a dress code calling for the finest attires inspired by traditional Saudi costumes, it’s sometimes more about the fashion than about the horses.

It’s no mystery that, before the catwalks of Fashion Week in the world’s most stylish capitals, the races were the best place to flaunt the dresses. Horseracing, after all, is the sport of kings, a high-falutin’ event once exclusive or accessible only to the high-born and the well-heeled, but also to scalawags and unscrupulous gamblers in later years, which was why a dress code was invented to make them feel less welcome.

FILIPINAS ON THE RACECOURSE With Filipinas Joan Tiu (leftmost), Marget Villarica (third from left), and Tash de Villa (second from right)

At the Royal Ascot, the designer friend of future King George IV, Beau Brummel, imposed black coats with white cravats and pantaloons on the men in 1807, but it was only in the 1830s, when Queen Victoria wore a porter bonnet to keep her face hidden from observers, that hats and fascinators became the thing, with dresses to match, for the women, who found more reason to grace the races.

Still fashion is only a sidelight on the race course. At Durban July, the race has been run without interruption every year since July 17, 1897 at the Hollywoodbets Greyville Racecourse and, while fashions have come and gone, the legends of the thoroughbreds remain vivid in the memory of racing fans.

STRUT YOUR STUFF Performances at Durban July are sensational and even dressing is elevated to a performance art

Among the most legendary was the great Sea Cottage, a South African-bred racehorse, which won every race but one he played, from 1964 to 1967. In 1966, just three weeks before the derby, as his trainer was taking him on a beach walk, he was shot in the soft flesh of his hindquarter by a sniper commissioned to prevent the equine champion from winning the upcoming race. Sea Cottage miraculously still made it to the race, with the bullet still lodged in his hindquarter, although he only managed to finish fourth.

BULLET SPEED Sea Cottage, despite having been shot, managed to finish fourth in the race (Photo Gold Circle)

The following year, he famously won, but with the lightweight Jollify in a dead heat. It was the year he retired, with a record of winning 20 of the 24 races he played. At age 25, in 1987, Sea Cottage was humanely put to sleep after complications from a stroke. He made it to the South African Equine Hall of Fame in 2019, the first to do so. The infamous bullet was only taken out of his flesh post-mortem.

This year’s champion at the Durban July Handicap, a race open for horses of all ages, was Winchester Mansion, who has won five races in his career so far. Trained by one of South Africa’s top trainers, Harare-born Brett Crawford, the four-year-old gelding was driven to victory by Kabelo Matsunyane, only the second black jockey to ever win the July, in what has been described as among the most memorable finishes in the 125-year history of Durban July.

MEMORABLE FINISH Winchester Mansion, under Kabelo Matsunyane, wins the 127th running of the Hollywoodbets Durban July (Photo Hollywoodbets Durban July Instagram)

There’s fashion, there are horses, there’s a lot of money to be made, on top of the R3 million (about $175,000) that Matsunaye and his winning horse brought home, and there’s a lot of fun, enough to help you decide when you ought to make your way to South Africa next year. Of course, there are many other things to explore and enjoy in Durban, the game reserves and the Big Five—i.e. the African elephant, the Cape buffalo, the African lion, the leopard, and the rhinoceros—among them, but that’s a story for another day.

GRACE AND SPEED Princess Calla, under Richard Fourie, nabs the Garden Province Stakes during the Durban July (Photo Hollywoodbets Durban July Instagram)

Meanwhile, my dream is we could have something like Durban July at the 21-hectare Santa Ana Race Park, an impossible dream because the racetrack has been redeveloped into Circuit Makati. Maybe not all hope is lost since we do have a heritage of horse racing in the Philippines that dates back to 1867, with three of its significant eras identified as the pony era from 1867 to 1898, the Arabian horse era from 1898 to 1930, and the thoroughbred era from 1935 to present.

Of course, we have international champions like Toni Leviste, Joker Arroyo, and Colin Syquia, who, I believe, are involved in the development of equestrian sport in the Philippines.

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