Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
See It Again is the pick of the 2024 Cape Town Met field
A TOP-NOTCH field will bid for glory in the R2 million World Sports Betting Cape Town Met at the stunningly refurbished Hollywoodbets Kenilworth Racecourse next Saturday.
Justin Snaith, South Africa’s leading racehorse trainer, will line up five runners in the field of 13, but his quintet will be up against 2024 L’Ormarins King’s Plate runner-up See It Again, which is the current favourite.
The Michael Roberts-trained See It Again will be ridden by six-times national champion jockey Piere Strydom. See It Again was sired by the stallion Twice Over, out of the dam Supreme Vision, and has been drawn wide at gate 11 for the race.
The legendary Roberts, an eleven-time South African Champion jockey, has played down the value of the draw and said he does not see the wide draw as a problem.
For Strydom, it could be second time lucky. He won it once before, in 2003. on Angus, which powered home for owner Sabine Plattner from the widest of the draw to beat Free My Heart (Karl Neisius) and Set Afire (Anthony Delpech).
Next Saturday will be the 162nd version of this iconic event. The 13 contenders are from eight stables, including two Highveld raiders and one representative from KZN.
Trainer Snaith’s Met arsenal will be fronted by the gelding Pacaya, which will have the services of the experienced jockey JP van der Merwe, who knows the way to the winner’s enclosure at Kenilworth.
In 2016, he was handed a ride on the morning of the then J&B Met, and went on to win with Smart Call, from the Alec Laird stable, in dramatic fashion.
Van der Merwe guided the bay mare home in the 2000m race to win by three lengths over favourite Legal Eagle, followed by Captain America and Light the Lights.
Snaith’s other runners are Double Superlative, Royal Aussie, Without Question and Mucho Dinero.
South Africa’s only female jockey, Rachel Venniker, will be riding her first Met race on Without Question.
The five-year-old Silvano gelding Sugar Mountain, from the ASSM Racing Syndicate and trained by Candice Bass-Robinson, is also a former Kenilworth winner, but will battle to stay with the more fancied entries such as See It Again, Pacaya, Bless My Stars and Royal Aussie.
The colourful theme of this year’s Cape Town Met is “Cape Splendour”.