Note To Self wins record R10 million Durban July at Greyville

Note To Self won the 130th Hollywoodbets Durban July at Hollywoodbets Greyville in KwaZulu-Natal on Saturday, 4 July 2026, and did it in the kind of race that changes a horse’s standing overnight. Run over the traditional 2 200m, Africa’s richest graded race carried a record R10 million purse, with the winning connections set to collect R6 million, the biggest winner’s cheque in African graded racing history.

That prize-money backdrop gave the result extra edge, but the sporting value was even bigger. In a season built around who can own the major targets, Note To Self has now stamped himself into South Africa’s elite pecking order by landing the country’s championship race. The Durban July is the measuring stick that matters, and this victory means the colt leaves Greyville with the game’s most valuable line on his record.

Richard Fourie was again the man in the saddle, and the result added another layer to a partnership that keeps delivering on the biggest stage. Fourie and trainer Justin Snaith claimed their fourth Durban July success together, a number that underlines how often that combination turns up on the day that counts. For Fourie, it was his third Durban July win overall, after previous victories aboard Legislate in 2014, Do It Again in 2019 and Belgarion in 2020.

Snaith’s July record has long marked him out as one of the race’s defining trainers, and Note To Self’s win only strengthens that reputation. The 2026 renewal had already been framed by the size of the occasion, with a final field of 18 runners and two reserves, and the race’s 130th running carried the sort of spotlight reserved for events that sit well beyond ordinary race-day traffic. This one had the scale of a national sporting final.

The Durban July’s pull reaches far outside the track, too. Ahead of the race, it was forecast to contribute nearly R1 billion to the eThekwini economy, a reminder that Greyville’s biggest day is also one of the province’s biggest commercial spectacles. On the track, though, the headline belonged to Note To Self, who left Durban with the richest prize in the race’s history and a place at the front of the season’s conversation.