Gold Circle Pty (Ltd)

Today's Racing :

Pocket not ready to abdicate

BRENDAN PATHER
Who wants to see him win it again? He’s getting older and was not very convincing in the Queen’s Plate. It is someone else’s turn now? Fortunately for Pocket Power, he will not be aware of the comments of doubting critics and pessimistic punters when he steps into the parade ring at Kenilworth tomorrow to attempt to rewrite the record books, yet again - an unprecedented fourth straight win in the Grade 1 R2,5million J&B Met. It will probably just be business as usual for the champion. According to the Mike Bass stable, he goes about his raceday routine with the minimum of fuss and his post race antiques are evidence of his dislike of attention. He has the attitude of a true champion - lets just get on with it! Ironically, it’s the criticism itself that is the measure of Pocket Power’s greatness as no other horse in South Africa gets analised to this extent. Having said that, the doubters that were not convinced with his recent L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate win are probably only recently qualified critics as the manner of the victory was no different from his first three Queen’s Plate wins. The fact remains, Pocket Power just does enough in his races which is probably one of the reasons for his extended reign at the top. The J&B Met is a conditions race run over 2 000m that is designed to give an advantage to the best, or highest rated, horses in the country. Pocket Power set the standard four seasons back and has maintained his superiority ever since. He goes into this year’s renewal on the back of two high class wins, on both occasions looking as professional and dominant as ever. It will take an exceptional effort from one of his competitors combined with alot of misfortune on his part to prevent Pocket Power from making it four J&B Mets on the trot - but then again, this is a sport prone to the odd strange occurrence. So who can topple the champion then? There will be 17 of them trying their best on Saturday but quite a few of these are eliminated by the conditions of the race. On their Queen’s Plate efforts, the Glen Kotzen pair of Big City Life and Fabiani warrant respect. Fabiani was a touch unlucky in the Queen’s Plate to have been positioned on the inside of the champion as the latter changed gears a furlong from home. Pocket Power tends to lug in after passing his opposition and the diminutive - in comparison to Pocket Power that is - Fabiani received an unsettling bump at a crucial stage. To his credit, he recovered a few strides later and was able to get up for a share of third, and just 1,25 lengths behind Pocket Power. Fabiani is now 2,5kg better off with Pocket Power and looks well weighted here. Provided jockey Richard Fourie can keep him out of the way of the champion, Fabiani looks a fair bet on his Queen’s Plate performance to contest the finish. Kotzen was happy with Big City Life's run in the Queen's Plate even though it was the second straight level weights defeat to Pocket Power. He has maintained all summer that you would only see the best of Big City Life in the Met and Kotzen has proven, particularly over the last year, that he is very astute at getting horses to show up well on the big day. Champion trainer Charles Laird appears more determined that ever this year to win a J&B Met for his main patrons, Markus and Ingrid Jooste, and his trio could offer a formidable challenge to Pocket Power. The most accomplished of Laird's trio is the multiple Grade 1 winner Smart Banker but the conditions of this race are not ideal for him and he has a wide draw to overcome. Of more interest are Oracy and Dan De Lago and according to the pre-draw antics of stable jockey Anton Marcus, there is little to choose between them. Expect another blistering 400-to-finish from Pocket Power with the last one he passes possibly being Dan De Lago. Fabiani should not be far off together with Oracy, Kapil and River Jetez.

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