Legislate was thought to be unbeatable having broken the Kenilworth Old Course record in his previous race and started at odds of 9/20. However, he didn’t settle well in the running behind a crawl set by the outsider Ashton Park and just did not have the fuel in the tank to produce his normally devastating finish.

Futura was relaxed in last place in the running and showed no ill effects from his far from ideal preparation, which had seen him missing a race as well as a racecourse gallop due to a bout of coughing.

Ashton Park looked at one stage a possibility to pull off a shock 40/1 victory as he led for much of the straight. Futura finally reeled him in, but then had to repel a late burst by the Triple Crown and Sansui Summer Cup winner Louis The King.

Futura won by 0,75 lengths clear, much to the excitement of Fayd’Herbe, who shook his fist with delight. Fayd’Herbe has tasted success in the Queen’s Plate on a number of occasions as he partnered the great Pocket Power to three of his famous four victories in the prestigious weight for age event.

The 33/1 outsider Gold Onyx finished strongly to be only 1,75 lengths behind the winner in third, a head in front of Jet Explorer. Gauteng horses therefore filled the second and third places and also fifth place with Tellina. Ashton Park, Kingvoldt and Paterfamilias were next best. A tired Legislate trailed in last, 5,25 lengths behind the winner.

Crawford had finished second in the last two running of the Queen’s Plate with Jackson and was thrilled to taste victory at last. The Dynasty colt Futura is owned by the passionate racing men Ian Longmore, Jack Mitchell and John Freeman. Mitchell might have had mixed feelings as he also has a share in Legislate.

Futura was bred by Guy Murdoch and was conceived in Colesberg on The Gary Player Stud Farm, born in the KZN Midlands at Yellow Star Stud and raised in Kimberley at Mauritzfontein Stud.

The big race result was a massive disappointment for the owners of sponsors L’Ormarins, Johann and Gaynor Rupert, as Legislate runs in the colours of their Drakenstein Stud. However, they still enjoyed a great day as those Drakenstein blue and white colours had earlier run first and third in the Gr 1 Maine Chance Paddock Stakes with the Mike Bass-trained Inara and the Glen Kotzen-trained Jet Belle respectively. Furthermore, Drakenstein bred Inara, who is by their stalwart stallion Trippi. Trippi had a treble on the day, and one other of them was also owned and bred by Drakenstein Stud.

Gaynor Rupert has done an immense amount of work to transform the Queen’s Plate into one of the top five rated racemeetings in the world, so thoroughly deserved the success. The course was awash with the blue and white colours that have now become tradition for patrons to wear and the crowd was thought to be a record for the meeting.

Inara gave a massive boost to the three-year-old form. She also left pundits asking just how good the mighty Mike de Kock-trained Majmu must be, as the latter had beaten her hands and heels by 2,5 lengths in the Gr 1 Avontuur Estate Cape Fillies Guineas.

Inara was allowed to go off at 20/1 as there was heavy support for Jet Aglow, who was bidding to give Dennis Drier and Sean Cormack a Paddock Stakes hat-trick.

Van Niekerk did well to tuck Inara into a midfield position from a wide draw and she then settled well. In the straight most of the horses made a bee line for the outside, as was the trend on the day, and Van Niekerk had to switch Inara inward for a run. She finished strongly but had to run all the way to the line to get the better of the Joey Soma-trained Gauteng raider Athina and Jet Belle in a thrilling three-way tussle.

She won by a neck and there was also a neck between Athina and Jet Belle. Another Gauteng raider, the De Kock-trained three-year-old Pine Princess, finished next best ahead of Jet Aglow. It has to be said that Jet Belle was probably an unlucky loser having to be snatched up and eased on two occasions, once down the back straight and then again in the straight.

Justin Snaith, trainer of Legislate, still had a good day with four winners, two of them ridden by his stable jockey Richard Fourie. Snaith and Fourie combined to win the Gr 2 Glorious Goodwood Peninsula Handicap over 1800m with Arion.

Snaith has always rated this four-year-old Silvano colt, not surprisingly as he finished as quickly as Legislate when finishing a 2,75 length 3rd in last year’s Investec Cape Derby and then beat Legislate in a gallop before they were both due to leave for KZN. However, he then chipped a knee, so was off for seven months.

Snaith had him primed for yesterday’s race, his fourth since the layoff. However, he was allowed to go off at 10/1 as the money poured on to the Mike Bass-trained Helderberg Blue, who went off at 15/10, while Power King was also fancied and was backed into 4/1.
Chestnut’s Rocket and Serissa ensured a fair gallop, while Helderberg Blue lay handy in about fourth place with Arion behind him. Power King was in midfield one wide.

Helderberg Blue had every chance but Arion was always travelling better and soon had his measure. Power King had crept up on the outside but the late burst he produced was not enough to catch Arion, who had swept clear and won by 1,25 lengths under a well-timed ride. Fourie saluted one of the owners Greg Bortz, who watched from a box high in the stands, as he passed the line as part of a pre-arranged celebration. Arion was bred by Maine Chance Farms.

Joey Ramsden had a hattrick on the day. Ramsden’s Australian-bred colt by Lohnro, The Conglomerate, won the Gr 3 Julius Baer Politician Stakes over 1800m under Piere Strydom at odds of 28/10. Derek Brugman represented owner Markus Jooste on course and said that this fine specimen had been bought at a bargain price, as he had been one of the early lots on the sale that Brugman and Ramsden attended.

The favourite MLJet set the fractions and The Conglomerate sat in about sixth place in the field which had cut up to just nine runners. The Conglomerate made his run down the outside and as MLJet had also drifted outward the pair became involved in an exciting tussle on the outward rail. However, Strydom was able to extract the necessary extra from The Conglomerate to win by 0,5 lengths.

MLJet has to go down as one of the season’s disappointments but he did have to concede 3kg to The Conglomerate and was 5,25 lengths clear of the third-placed Arniston.

Snaith and Ramsden’s fourth and third winners respectively came in the tenth race, a Pinnacle Stakes event over 2800m, when Current Event and Coltrane dead-heated. They were ridden by Fourie and Strydom respectively.

Bass and Van Niekerk also had a double together and both Sean Cormack and Karl Neisius rode doubles. The sires Silvano and Lohnro also had doubles.
One interesting result was in the third race, a maiden plate for fillies and mares over 1000m, as the winner Cathy Pacific, a 40/1 first-timer filly by Royal Air Force, was trained by Glen Kotzen, owned by his son Kuyan and bred by his mother-in-law Judy Wintle.

It’s an incredible race for favourites. They have won seven of the last nine and even the usual imponderable of the pace is seemingly not an issue for the four-year-old who is bidding to join the select group (seven in the last 50 years) who have completed the Durban July-Queen’s Plate double.

Justin Snaith insists: “We don’t mind if the gallop is fast or slow” and Richard Fourie goes further, saying: “The slower they go the better for me because my horse can quicken better than any of these. He is in a good place and I am very confident.”

Most of the opposition – trainers as well as jockeys – believe the gallop will be far from searching and Futura’s rider Bernard Fayd’Herbe, bidding for his fifth Queen’s Plate, echoes the views of many when he says: “Normally there is a decent pace in the Queen’s Plate but I don’t see it this time, and that will be in Legislate’s favour.”

Louis The King, rated only half a length behind Legislate and second favourite at 4-1, is a real racehorse who finishes like a train and fights like a tiger. But this mile, surely, is a bit on the short side?

“Maybe at this stage but not definitely,” answers Geoff Woodruff who won this with Jet Master in 2000 and again with Yard-Arm four years later. “A decent pace would help but it doesn’t look as if we are going to get that.”

Woodruff has already ruled out making the running with 25-1 shot Tellina who was nibbled at 33-1 earlier in the week. “You can’t sacrifice one man’s horse for another in a R1 million race,” he bluntly points out.

Gold Onyx needs further – he was a close third in the Gold Cup – but he, like all bar fellow 40-1 shot Ashton Park and Kingvoldt, is also in the J & B Met three weeks later and setting a strong gallop into the wind is hardly an ideal prep for Cape Town’s richest race.

This is the smallest Queen’s Plate field for 13 years and Kingvoldt is only the seventh three-year-old to run during that period. The Cape Guineas third has been friendless in the market all week, drifting from 8-1 to 14-1, and he won’t lead either.

“I will leave it to Karl Neisius,”says Joey Ramsden, bidding for his fourth win. “But he has some pretty useful form over six furlongs so there is no reason for him to be rushing off to the front.”

The one horse other than the favourite for whom a slow gallop might not be a major disadvantage is Futura, simply because his cough-induced hold-up means he won’t be at peak fitness.

He has gone out from 4-1 to 6-1 – and is looking increasingly each way value at that price – but Brett Crawford is keeping his feet firmly on the ground and his sights directly on the Met.

“Futura has pace and he can quicken but he likes to do so off a good pace,”the Philippi trainer points out, seemingly determined not to over-buoy hopes that were so cruelly dashed when Jackson went close in the last two years. “I now think it’s the Met when we can really trouble this horse of the Snaiths.”

Last year’s third Jet Aglow was yesterday installed 4-1 favourite with Betting World for the Maine Chance Farms Paddock Stakes and Dennis Drier, bidding for his third successive win, reports: “It’s a tough field but I think she is better than last year.”

Pine Princess was done no favours by Arcetri Pink on Wednesday but Mike de Kock, bidding for his fifth win, has gone to inordinate lengths to get her here. Hammie’s Hooker is rated nearly three lengths better than the rest and looks value at 11-2, particularly as Mike Bass says: “I think she is in good shape and I know Bernard is happy with her.”

The Justin Snaith-trained Dynasty colt proved he is getting better all the time by breaking the 1600m Kenilworth Old Course record in impressive style in his seasonal reappearance.  He is difficult to oppose tomorrow, especially considering that most of the main dangers appear to be eyeing the J&B Met as their chief target.

Geoff Woodruff is viewing this as a “stepping stone” race for the J&B Met for his charges Louis The King and Tellina. The Triple Crown and Sansui Summer Cup winner Louis The King is considered by Woodruff to be more at home over 2000m, but his most impressive form has arguably been over 1600m. The phenomenal turn of foot he displayed when winning the Gauteng Guineas will make him a danger.

Tellina has improved with gelding, according to Woodruff, and was only 0,75 lengths off Yorker and the champion miler Capetown Noir in the Gr 1 wfa HF Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut Stakes over 1600m last year, so could make his presence felt.

The only three-year-old in the race Kingvoldt is only a couple of lengths off Act Of War, who looks to be high class, so he could be a danger over an ideal trip.

Jet Explorer finished strongest of all last year for a 1,55 length third and has enjoyed a fine preparation, so could be in the top three from a good draw.

Futura has had an interrupted preparation, so won’t be at his peak according to trainer Brett Crawford, but this perhaps makes him interesting as a classy sort over a trip a touch short of his best.

Ashton Park is in a race against time to make it to the start after returning with a swollen joint when nearly brought down in the Diadem Stakes two weeks ago. Both Paterfamilias and Gold Onyx look better suited to the J&B Met.

Legislate is selected to win and it is tough to separate Louis The King, Jet Explorer, Kingvoldt, Futura and Tellina for the minor places, but they are selected in the order mentioned.

Jet Aglow has finished second and third respectively in the last two runnings of the Gr 1 Maine Chance Paddock Stakes and has enjoyed a fine preparation for this year’s renewal, so could give Dennis Drier and Sean Cormack a hattrick of wins in this prestigious weight for age fillies and mares event. However, she faces an ultra-competitive field.

Jet Belle caught the eye in her recent preparation and beat Jet Aglow in the wfa Gr 2 Gold Bracelet over 2000m at Greyville on Super Saturday.

Hammie’s Hooker has developed into a high class sort, but is possibly better over a touch shorter and she also ran a bit below par in the Diadem Stakes over 1200m in her preparation.

Inara ran a cracking 2,5 length second to the mighty Majmu in the Avontuur Estate Cape Filllies Guineas and will appreciate this step up in trip.

Pine Princess and Athina travelled from Johannesburg during the week. Pine Princess beat older horses in a Gr 3 over this trip at Turffontein and has enjoyed a good preparation. Athina is one of only two Gr 1 winners in the field and travelled well according to trainer Joey Soma, who was expecting a “massive run” over an ideal distance.

Maybe Yes was a classy winner of the Gr 2 KRA Guineas last season and being a year older should now get this trip. Acrostar had a bit too much to do last time out in the Victress Stakes over course and distance but Rchard Fourie has retained faith at the expense of Victress Stakes winner Jet Supreme.

The selection is Jet Belle to beat Jet Aglow with Inara, Hammie’s Hooker and Maybe Yes next best.

The Gr 2 Glorious Goodwood Peninsula Handicap is also very competitive, but Power King is getting better and better since recent gelding and could win from Helderberg Blue, Arion, True Master and Dynastic Power.

A stumbling block for exotics could be the Listed Politician Stakes which is very open. However, Balance Sheet is tipped as he will appreciate the step up in trip, is well drawn and escaped a merit rated raise after finishing seventh in the Grand Parade Cape Guineas, so is reasonably well weighted.

The first leg of the Pick 6 could be won by Valerio, but Night In Seattle, Fire Master, Evening Storm, Man From Milan and Henry Of York could also be considered in that order.

The horses that make most appeal in the second leg of the Pick 6 in order are Happy Forever, Savannah Song, Villa Del Largo, Dressed in Cotton and Captain On The Run.

The first leg of the PA is tough but Provenance should come on a lot for his debut when staying on from an unfavourable draw and is the suggestion.

Soma said she had travelled well and was expecting a “massive run”. He believed her unplaced run in the Gr 1 Sansui Summer Cup could be ignored as they had gone “a joke of a pace” and the ground had also turned out heavy too, which had not suited her. He added that she was fit and well and would love the 1800m trip.

He was also pleased to have been able to book Piere Strydom for the race. The great jockey will have to help her overcome a tricky draw of nine.  Soma admitted that it was a very open contest.

Athina won the Gr 1 Wilgerbosdrift SA Fillies Classic over this trip at Turffontein last year, where she showed a fine burst of finishing speed, so she should enjoy this galloping track. She will return to Johannesburg straight after the race.

Betting World has also tightened Futura from 4-1 to 7-2, Louis The King from 7-1 to 6-1 and Act Of War from 15-2 to 7-1. Dynamic, Jet Explorer, Killua Castle and King Of Pain (all 33-1 shots) are now on 25-1 as is Power King who was previously on 40-1.

Arcetri Pink, Geoff Woodruff’s first runner of the Cape Town campaign, could manage no closer than third in the 1 400m fillies conditions plate at Kenilworth today despite starting 13-10 favourite.

But Woodruff was quite happy with the performance, saying: “It was more than satisfactory. The trip was too short for her and she was running on at the end. She hadn’t been on grass since she won at Turffontein at the end of November and I thought I would run her rather than gallop her. She goes for the Klawervlei Majorca next.”

Red Flame, given a confident ride by champion S’Manga Khumalo, ran out a convincing length winner and will also be in the line-up for the January 31 Grade 1.

Neil Bruss said: “She kicked at the right time and went away from them. I couldn’t have asked for more.”

Runner-up Supreme Sunset is in the Freightmore Sceptre Stakes on Saturday week. Dennis Drier today supplemented Gathering Fame for this 1 200m Grade 2 and Justin Snaith put in Highly Decorated.