Youngsters make Met exciting
SURPRISE: DELPECH BELIEVES THE BIG GUNS COULD BE UPSTAGED BY YOUNG PRETENDERS
One of the dark horses, the champ says, must be his mount Cascapedia.
Ruling champion jockey Anthony Delpech believes the new blood in the Sun Met celebrated with G.H. Mumm – like his mount Cascapedia as well as talented three-year-old Oh Susanna and lightly raced colt Last Winter – add enormous lustre to Saturday’s big race.
“It’s the ‘same old’ with the bigger horses,” he said, referring to the fact that many of the runners have met on numerous occasions. “But now there are some exciting youngsters coming up through the ranks.
“With nice horses like this in the field, can those older hardknockers keep on winning?” he asks.
His belief is that these less-exposed runners have the potential to put their elders in their place and Saturday will be their first acid test.
As retained jockey to Mary Slack and her daughter Jessica, who own two of the more prominent studs in South Africa – Wilgerbosdrift and Mauritzfontein respectively – he was obliged to ride one of their three runners and was booked for Jessica’s Irishbred Cascapedia.
The Slacks also have Nother Russia – the ride on Jessica’s daughter of 2010 Met runner-up Mother Russia “belongs” to jockey Craig Zackey – and last year’s Majorca Stakes winner Nightingale, who runs in Mary’s silks. MJ Byleveld rides her.
Delpech, who won the Met in breathtaking fashion on fouryear-old filly Igugu in 2012, wouldn’t swop, although he does admit to having a few reservations.
He said: “Cascapedia has done everything the right way. Being Northern Hemisphere bred, she is six months behind*. That’s why it’s taken her so long to get as good as she’s getting. She is only now starting to mature. She’s on the up.”
She has won five of her six starts so far, answering every question fluently, and trainer Mike de Kock’s decision to take her to Cape Town was only made after she trounced some really smart males in the London News Stakes last month.
And that is his biggest worry. “This was never her mission and I’m not sure she is quite ready to be winning the Met,” he said, pointing out that most trainers target the race and train their horses to peak on that day.
The four-year-old is also travelling to an “away game” for the first time and will be having her first run on a left-hand track, which also have to be concerns.
“We had to take the chance, but it’s going to be tough. But she’s taken everything we’ve thrown at her so far and she’s just getting better and better.”
With a massive TAB Quartet pool expected on the race, we pressed him to give us his 1-2-34. “Legal Eagle must be the one to beat, then Captain America, Last Winter and Cascapedia in no particular order,” he replied.
Delpech has a good chance of winning the R1-million Betting World Cape Flying Championship aboard De Kock-trained Naafer, who is 7-2 favourite with the sponsor.
The stable has two runners in the race, with Callan Murray on Alfolk. Delpech has ridden both in the past and chose to ride Naafer.
“Although I don’t think there’s much between the two, I think the 1000m might suit Naafer better,” he said, before quickly adding, “although this is the Kenilworth 1000m where they don’t go as fast. Naafer is an uncomplicated horse, he can lead or follow the pace.
“But this is a very open race. If I was a betting man, I’d suggest putting as many horses into the Pick 6 as possible.”
The draw down the straight at Kenilworth has favoured those with low-numbered barrier and Naafer is drawn at No 13. “I don’t really worry about things like that,” he said. “He has enough speed to move to the inside. Bold Respect is likely to lead and he is drawn No 10, so I’ll track him.”
He called Glen Kotzen for the ride on Pack Leader in the R1-million Investec Cape Derby because “I thought it was a great run in the Guineas, coming from a long way back”.
Pack Leader finished a 2.55-length sixth behind re-opposing Tap O’ Noth in the Cape Guineas but was hampered and made up just less than five lengths in the final 400m. “My horse has a good draw and will like the distance. He has a lot going for him and must have a place chance. Tap O’ Noth is the best three-year-old colt around at the moment. He’s the horse we all have to beat.”
He has two rides for Turffontein-based trainer Joe Soma.
Lobo’s Legend runs in the $500,000 CTS 1200m and smart staying mare Fortissima in the Heineken Cape Stayers.
He said: “Joey thinks a lot of Lobo’s Legend but it’s a competitive race worth a lot of money. It’s so hard to assess how the Joburg form will go against the Cape form. Anyway, sometimes it’s those hard-knocking horses who win these races.”
* The Southern Hemisphere breeding season starts in August. In the Northern Hemisphere it starts in January.