There were few surprises when the final field of eleven for the Cape Town Met was revealed this morning. Justin Snaith as usual revealed his hand early, and Belgarion (Richard Fourie), Do It Again (Anton Marcus) and the rejuvenated African Night Sky (Robert Khathi) all took their places last week already.
Eric Sands by contrast likes to hold his cards close to his chest. But Luke Ferraris is on Rainbow Bridge, and Warren Kennedy on Golden Ducat, as most would have predicted.
Sean Tarry’s Cirillo is ridden by Gavin Lerena. The Pomodoro entire has never gone 2000m before, or indeed won beyond 1400m. But he wouldn’t be the first supposedly ‘doubtful stayer’ to win. All of last year’s winner One World, Past Master (2011), and Martial Eagle (2013) had never gone the trip and were written off by many beforehand.
No glamour SA race is complete without Mike de Kock, and recent impressive Cartier Paddock Stakes winner Queen Supreme is indeed making the trip back to Cape Town. Keagan de Melo retains the ride.
She is one of three fillies to accept. Adam Marcus’ three-year-old Princess Calla will be the mount of Grant van Niekerk, and carries a mere 51,5kg. A welcome surprise is the inclusion of recent Gr3 London News winner and Gr1 WSB Summer Cup runner up Running Brave. Trainer Fanie Bronkhorst was in doubt about whether she would travel in the enforced absence of regular pilot Muzi Yeni. But he has decided to take his chances, and highly experienced Greg Cheyne gets the ride.
Prominent Cape trainers Vaughan Marshall and Candice Bass-Robinson have Silver Operator (Sandile Mbhele) and Sovereign Spirit (Aldo Domeyer) respectively. But both are among the rank outsiders.
CAPE TOWN MET (Grade 1) PRESENTED BY CAPE RACING
Open to horses at Weight For Age
WFA: 3yrs-6.0kgs 4yrs-0.5kgs
Saturday, January 30
1 6 RAINBOW BRIDGE 60.0 132 A L J Ferraris Eric Sands
2 9 DO IT AGAIN 60.0 131 CA A Marcus Justin Snaith
3 11 BELGARION 60.0 130 A R Fourie Justin Snaith
4 10 CIRILLO 60.0 126 A G Lerena Sean Tarry
5 4 AFRICAN NIGHT SKY 60.0 115 A R Khathi Justin Snaith
6 3 SOVEREIGN SPIRIT 60.0 106 BA A Domeyer Candice Bass-
7 2 GOLDEN DUCAT 59.5 128 A W Kennedy Eric Sands
8 7 SILVER OPERATOR 59.5 112 A S Mbhele Vaughan Marsh
9 8 QUEEN SUPREME (IRE 57.5 126 A K de Melo Mike de Kock
10 5 RUNNING BRAVE 57.5 119 A G Cheyne Fanie Bronkho
11 1 PRINCESS CALLA 51.5 116 A G van Niekerk Adam Marcus
Same Trainer - NOT COUPLED on Tote
(1,7) (2,3,5)
Gold Circle