The Sean Tarry-trained six-year-old gelding Legal Eagle confirmed himself one of the great milers in South African history on Saturday when prevailing in one of the most thrilling finishes the prestigious Grade 1 weight-for-age L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate had ever witnessed under jockey great Anton Marcus.

In last place was a horse called It Is Written and the footnotes will not mention the massive impact he had on the race.

It was theatre from start to finish and will have racing purists debating, while the socialites who had previously misunderstood the latter community’s passion for the sport might now tip their hats in appreciation.

Trainer Justin Snaith said before the race that It Is Written had been entered to make up the numbers and give the owners some fun, but his trademark impish smile was a giveaway. He had something up his sleeve and from the off it became clear that It Is Written had been put in to ensure a good pace. It very nearly proved a master stroke. On the other hand It Is Written might now be regarded as a swear word in the Brett Crawford yard as his  presence possibly cost their gallant warrior Captain America the race.

Captain America’s regular pilot Corné Orffer made his intentions clear as he made a bee-line for the front from his wide draw of nine. However, Brandon May, jumping from draw six on It Is Written, had been issued with a similar plan. The consequence was the big horse Captain America had to use a bit more fuel than the connections would have liked in order to reach the first turn in front.

Meanwhile, Legal Eagle had jumped beautifully from draw two and Marcus would have been delighted to see what was happening ahead. It Is Written had ranged up to Captain America’s flank on the turn. Orffer looked around, probably with considerable irritation. A racehorse’s natural inclination when alongside another horse is to race and in racing parlance this occurrence, if happening too early in the running, is known as “cutting each other’s throats”. Orffer’s snap decision was to give Captain America a bit more rein to stay out in front. More precious fuel used up.

Marcus could afford to gear Legal Eagle down into the cruising speed at which he is most comfortable.

Captain America opened up a two length lead on It Is Written. Legal Eagle was a further three lengths back.

Snaith’s stable elect, Winter Triple Crown hero African Night Sky, was sitting behind Legal Eagle, but unfortunately for him his rank outsider stablemate Fifty Cents had pinched the rail on his inside. African Night Sky thus had to race one wide without cover the whole way.

Vodacom  Durban July winner Marinaresco was provided with cover behind African Night Sky, but jockey Aldo Domeyer preferred to leave a two length gap, an indication of how strong the pace was. However, this led to Silicone Valley switching outward from the rail halfway around the turn to get into African Night Sky’s slipstream. In the Queen’s Plate no quarter is given, but this manoeuvre will probably have landed jockey Donavan Dillon in hot water as he was not the required distance ahead of Marinaresco and hampered him.

Further back in the running were Captain America’s fellow Grade 1-winning stablemate Sail South, the unheralded Snaith-trained Copper Force, one of last year’s best three-year-olds Gold Standard and two Grade 1-winning raiders from the Highveld, Hat Puntano and the slow-starting Deo Juvente.

Orffer had no option but to go for home at the top of the straight. It Is Written began crying enough, his role on the centre stage completed. By the 400m mark Captain America was at least five lengths clear of Legal Eagle, who had skipped two lengths clear of the rest. However, Marcus, ever the consummate professional, stuck to his game plan. He began driving as they passed the 400m pole, but only drew the sword 150 metres later. He gave the odds-on favourite his first crack of the whip passing the 200 metre pole and at exactly the same instant Captain America, still five lengths clear, began tiring. Marcus stuck to his familiar waving-the-whip-and-driving style, with a crack given occasionally in rhythm. Legal Eagle began closing the gap and by the 100m mark it became clear he was going to get there. However, a new threat was emerging as Marinaresco, Sail South and Copper Force were all flying out of the chasing pack.

Legal Eagle held on by 0,4 lengths from the low-flying Copper Force, with Captain America, Sail South and Marinaresco narrowly beaten in third fourth and fifth respectively.

Jockey Marcus was overcome with emotion in the post-race interviews as he spared a thought for his former racing boss, Markus Jooste, who has had a downturn in fortunes since resigning from the listed company Steinhoff.

Jooste’s Mayfair Speculators were forced to sell Legal Eagle in the build up to the Queen’s Plate.

Legal Eagle’s chief owner is now the deserving Braam van Huysteen, who had lived a modest life while building his multi-million dollar Tekkie Town business on a solid foundation. However, this decade the dividends have been reaped. He maintained his down-to-earth demeanour while buying horses for a range of trainers and had never before won a Grade 1 race.

Van Huysteen revelled in the moment together with new part-owners Hedley McGrath and Van Huysteen’s Brisbane-based racing advisor Billy Henderson.

Among the debateable points will be how costly both Silcone Valley’s and Legal Eagle’s outward shifts in the closing stages would have been to fifth-placed Marinaresco, and that is not to mention Silicone Valley’s earlier indiscretion. However, under the latest rules, there was no thought of an objection.

Next year Legal Eagle, an Avontuur Stud-bred son of Greys Inn, will attempt to equal the immortal Pocket Power’s record of four successive Queen’s Plate wins.

Gaynor Rupert of Drakenstein Stud will always be celebrated as the lady who has revived the Queen’s Plate as a social occasion as well as a great race. In its current two-day format, the meeting can justifiably be compared to England’s Glorious Goodwood festival.

Fittingly, Glorious Goodwood are now sponsors of the Grade 2 Peninsula Handicap on the Queen’s Plate card. This race was won by the Glen Kotzen-trained three-year-old Eyes Wide Open.

Later, the Snaith-trained three-year-old filly Oh Susanna won the Grade 1 Cartier Paddock Stakes over 1800m and is on her way to becoming South African’s version of her legendary paternal half-sister Zenyatta, America’s most celebrated female racer this century. Their father Street Cry passed on a massive stride and it was the stuff of fairytales when Oh Susanna passed the line 1,5 lengths clear with a celebrating Grant van Niekerk standing in the irons adorned in Drakenstein blue-and-white racing silks.

By David Thiselton