Sixteen of the best horses currently racing in South Africa go to the post just after 5pm on Saturday afternoon to contest the R1,5-million J&B Met at Kenilworth in Cape Town.
As always, this is no ordinary race — it is an event that brings the Cape capital to a standstill for many locals and overseas visitors.
Crowds in excess of 45 000 will cram into the available space, whether in the ”tent town”, in picnic sites, marquees or just on the green lawns in front of the impressive grandstands to watch the race and then party the night away.
This year the ”people’s horse”, Tyson, is a clear favourite. His main claim to fame is his resounding victory in the R2-million Gommagomma Summer Cup at Turffontein in Gauteng in late November.
Trainer Stuart Pettigrew ran him in the Queen’s Plate at Kenilworth on New Year’s Day but he finished nearly five lengths adrift of the Cape’s main hope, Winter Solstice.
Joey Ramsden, who has carved quite a name for himself in the Cape over recent seasons, is Winter Solstice’s conditioner and many expect him to beat not only Tyson but the field home on Saturday.
In a career of 12 outings, he has won six in impressive style and has never finished further back in the field than fourth — and that was in a race that was far short of his best distance.
Ramsden holds a strong hand as he also saddles Invincible, Set to Music and Sports Warrior, the latter having run second to the brilliant Yard-Arm in this race last year. No doubt one of these runners will be called upon to set some sort of pace for the stable elect, Winter Solstice.
Another Cape runner that has attracted attention is the good-looking chestnut gelding Hundred Acre Wood from Eric Sands’s stable. His preparation for this grade-one race has been flawless, having won five races since the beginning of July, including the Premiers Trophy just six weeks ago.
There is a filly and a mare in the line-up and it would be foolish to ignore Mike de Kock’s grey filly Ilha da Vitoria. She, too, has an outstanding record, having won four races and never been out of the placings in 15 outings. In the Summer Cup, she finished third to Tyson, six lengths back, and has a pull of 3kg in the weights on Saturday.
The mare Icy Air showed her true mettle when she came second in the recent Paddock Stakes, and trainer Dean Kannemeyer is reported to be very happy with her progress since then — he may fancy her chances ahead of his other entrant, Badger’s Delight.
Top Gauteng trainer Geoff Woodruff has two contenders, His Lordship and Superwood. The latter could be the dark horse in the race as Woodruff elected not to run him in the Summer Cup after his good second to Greys Inn in last season’s Vodacom July.
Greys Inn is in Dubai, with the likes of Yard-Arm and Grand Emporium hoping to keep the South African flag flying there for De Kock.
The remaining five horses, Alastor, Tamarino Bay, All Three a King, Rusedski and Dunford, are regarded as outsiders but have all shown some sort of recent form and have certainly earned their places in the field. — Sapa