Anticipation is growing ahead of this year’s renewal of the World Sports Betting Grade 1 Cape Town Met over 2000m at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth.
The top quality, stakes-laden 12-race meeting on Saturday 28 January has been classified as a World Pool event by the Hong Kong Jockey Club, adding an extra dimension for TAB customers betting on Cape Town’s greatest race day.
TAB Win, Place, Swinger and Quinella pools on Races 4 to 12 will all be commingled into the Hong Kong Jockey Club tote, which operates the biggest tote pools in the world. The commingled pools on each of the four bet types average more than R5 million!
Other tote pools at the meeting will be hosted by TAB as usual, including a carryover Pick 6 with a likely pool of R10-million.
On the racetrack, the action will be out of the top drawer from start to finish. There are three Grade 1 races on the card, a Grade 2 contest and a two-year-old Listed event as well as the WSB Gold Rush, a lucrative sales race worth R7,5 million open to graduates of the 2021 Cape Premier Yearling Sale.
The 2000m Cape Town Met, Race 9 on the card, has attracted the country’s best middle-distance runners including last year’s winner Kommetdieding and familiar foe Jet Dark, who was second in the race last year.
Justin Snaith-trained Jet Dark has finished ahead of the defending champion in three subsequent Grade 1 meetings – the Hollywoodbets Durban July, the Champions Cup and L’Ormarins King’s Plate – and looks on course to avenge the defeat of 12 months ago.
Swingers and Quinellas could be the way to play!
Horse-Of-The-Year Captain’s Ransom will be bidding for a Majorca Stakes hat-trick in Race 4 and will take a brave bettor to go against her completing the Grade 1 three-timer reverting to 1600m.
Snaith’s charge had her colours lowered by Met hopeful Make It Snappy when only second in defence of her 1800m Paddock Stakes title last time out but she travelled powerfully into the closing stages before her challenge petered out, suggesting the drop to 1600m will be more to her liking.
It is probably worth noting that she is three from three over the course and distance and preserving that 100% record will bring with it a seventh Grade 1 success in a glittering career.
Snaith-trained Royal Mo colt Royal Aussie was last seen finishing fourth, beaten a little over six lengths, in the 1600m Grade 1 Cape Guineas won by ‘boom horse’ Charles Dickens. He returns to the course and distance of that commendable performance in Race 7 and lines up in the Gold Rush with a very good chance of banking his connections the R5-million first prize.
Royal Aussie, who was raised 10 points in the ratings for his Guineas display, is the highest-rated horse in the race and need only run to that level of form again to earn another big stake cheque.
Nevada King (Race 5) and Silver Host in the Grade 2 New Turf Carriers Western Cape Stayers (Race 10) are other Snaith runners on the card who it could pay to follow.
– Clive Robinson
