Gold Circle Pty (Ltd)

Today's Racing :

The J & B Met

A spectacle of glossy vibrancy and intense exhilaration enveloped in a cauldron of sensual excess that sets the pulse racing. This is the core of J&B Met day at Kenilworth Racecourse in Cape Town on the last Saturday of January every year, a gathering of the rich and famous, the fashion junkies and the thousands who seek to explore the intensity of life in the hubbub of the milling crowds. It provides the vehicle for dreams as the masses experience the thrill of the pounding hooves and the brute force of the majestic chargers as they compete for glory in the greatest race on the southern tip of Africa.

It is an experience of passion that draws 50 000 people to the picturesque setting where for decades the mighty beasts and their diminutive pilots have fought side by side in their quest for victory.

This is horseracing at its absolute best, the J& B Met.

It was in the year 1792 that the noble thoroughbred first stepped ashore in the fairest Cape; the first of the breed to land on the African continent and the beginning of what has become one of the biggest industries in the land.

The Cape of Good Hope was the birthplace of racing in South Africa with Lord Charles Somerset playing a major role in the establishment and development of the sport in the region. The first recorded race, the Turf Club Purse, was run on Green Point Common on Monday, September 18, 1797, and won by the five-year-old Zemman Shaw.

The race was organised by the African Turf Club - later to become the South African Turf Club then the Western Province Racing Club and now Gold Circle Western Cape which today has as its flagship event, the R2,5-million, Grade 1, J&B Met.

The first recorded winner of the Metropolitan Mile, as it was originally known in 1883, was Sir Hercules and, while the race had a chequered existence for many years in the early 1900's, by the 1960's it was firmly established as one of the "big three" races in the country along with the Vodacom Durban July and the original Summer Handicap in Gauteng.

As the original home of racing in the country, the Western Cape had a strong base to build on with a vibrant breeding industry to support the racing and many of the best trainers in the business - men who have become legends and who based their powerful strings in the region.

While the J&B Met retained its status as one of the big three, it had begun to lose its sparkle with the handicap conditions and large fields resulting inevitably in a few good horses competing against numbers of opponents not blessed with the same degree of ability.

Visiting trainers began to baulk including the legendary Sydney Laird and it was time for an in-depth look at the race and its future. In 1973 it was changed to a conditions race - weight-for-age plus penalties - and it drew a deep new breath on which to build for the future.

In spite of its new image and obvious acceptance from within the racing industry, it still lacked public acceptance as anything other than a horse race featuring the best thoroughbreds in the country. It was in need of a rejuvenating injection of enthusiastic promotion to restore it to its former glory and that came in 1978 when Justerini and Brooks, producers of J&B Rare Scotch Whiskey, stepped in as sponsor and the J&B Met was born.

And as if to celebrate the dawning of a new era, into the line-up for the race as a four-year-old that year stepped one of the greatest horses ever to race in South Africa, Politician, a magnificent chestnut with an outstanding record. He had won two of his three starts as a juvenile and six of his 10 starts as a three-year-old including the Dingaans, the Cape Guineas, the Cape Derby and the South African Guineas.

After running fifth in the Rothmans July, now the Vodacom Durban July, as a three-year-old, he was second in the Champion Stakes at Greyville then won the Hawaii Stakes at Turffontein and the Cape Trial Handicap at Milnerton. He was the talking point of South African racing and a horse the public wanted to see.

The crowds streamed into the course drawn by the aura of this all-conquering beast and he never let them down and, with "Big Race" Bertie Hayden in the irons, he cruised home 3,25 lengths clear of dead-heaters Arion and Fast Piece.

With a stake of R50 000 that year and a sensational finish, the large crowd was thrilled and the foundation was set for the development of the J&B Met into the massive racing and entertainment spectacular that it is today.

And if the thrill of the first J&B Met was not enough, Syd Laird returned the following year with Politician and jockey Bertie Hayden and South Africa watched in awe as possibly the greatest performance by a thoroughbred in South African history was played out before an even greater crowd than the year before. Carrying top weight again - this time under 58,5kg - Politician became boxed as they swept into the home straight. There was nowhere for him to go and with 200 metres of the race left the chances of him getting a run let alone winning looked impossible.

But the strapping chestnut was not to be denied and virtually finding his own way through the horses ahead of him he produced an explosive burst of breathtaking acceleration to catch the champion filly Festive Season just short of the post and beat her by half a length.

As Hayden remarked afterwards: "I couldn't ride him in the end, I had all this horse under me and we had nowhere to go. There was nothing I could do so I just threw the reins at him and let him do what he could. It was just amazing, he took off and fought his way through to the front."

And trainer Syd Laird, nicknamed "The Bear" and not one too liberal with words of praise, said Politician "combined his strength with a great action and terrific fighting spirit to be a truly outstanding racehorse."

It was a performance not seen before or since and Politician became the first horse to win the race in consecutive years.

The roll of honour includes the names of many of the top horses to race in the country including Foveros, Wolf Power, Model Man, Empress Club, London News and Horse Chestnut.

Over the years victory in the race was claimed by horses from all parts of the country but three families dominated - the Lairds, Millards and Kannemeyers who between them won the race 10 times.

Syd Laird won it twice with Politician in 1978 and 1979 and Alec Laird won it with London News in 1997.

Terrance Millard won it with Arctic Cove in 1983, Mark Anthony in 1988 and Olympic Duel in 1991 while his son Tony Millard won it with Empress Club in 1993.

The Kannemeyer team, Peter and son Dean, won the J&B Met with Sunshine Man in 1980 then with Divine Master in 1992 and with Pas De Quoi in 1994.

As a social function the J&B Met is renowned throughout the country and has become so popular that in 2002 the gates of Kenilworth racecourse had to be closed midway through the afternoon and the "house full" signs put up. More than 50 000 people had crammed into the picturesque venue.

Through aggressive marketing and innovative promotion by J&B and Gold Circle Racing, heady fashion has become synonymous with thoroughbred racing and both are taken to the very limit on this day to produce a sensual mix of power and stunning beauty for which the occasion is internationally acknowledged.

Like the great sporting and social events around the world, the J&B Met is a celebration of beauty and magnificence - a gathering of the majestic thoroughbreds and the beautiful people who flock to Kenilworth Racecourse in their thousands to be part of the very special occasion.

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