Legal Eagle is a dreadfully short price but he is well-nigh impossible to oppose in his bid to win the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate for the third successive year at Kenilworth tomorrow.

The six-year-old looked as good as ever when he returned to Cape Town to take the Green Point five weeks ago and the champion trainer’s conversation with tabonline’s Jack Milner earlier this week confirmed that the horse has now found the expected extra and is very much on-song – “He has had a perfect prep and everything has gone smoothly.”

Anton Marcus (Liesl King)

Victory tomorrow would extend his unbeaten run over a mile to eight and provide four-time champion Anton Marcus with Queen’s Plate number seven.

Trading at 6-10 or 7-10 is for the brave but this is a good race for short-priced horses. Although Legal Eagle 12 months ago was the first winning favourite for four years, favourites had won seven of the previous eight runnings and only one winner has started at a bigger price than 7-1 this century.

The only horse that could reasonably be expected to put it up to the dual Horse of the Year is Edict Of Nantes and he is due to spend the rest of his days in Hong Kong.

Gold Standard is the next shortest in the betting at 6-1. He was good enough to finish second in the Cape Guineas and fourth in the Sun Met last season before being sidelined as a safety measure and his return has gone more or less according to plan. But he is not a champion.

Captain America (7-1) is a tough, consistent sort who was second last year and fourth the year before. He seems sure to make the frame but third time lucky? No.

Stable companion Sail South is a big price at 16-1 for a horse that was third 12 months ago – less than a length behind Captain America – and has retained his form. He looks a reasonable place bet at 9-4.

Marinaresco (10-1) has been deliberately left undercooked to stop him dropping himself too far off the pace. It’s a gamble but, as his trainer freely admits, this mile is too short for him and his race is the Met.

African Night Sky (17-2) is held in high esteem by his stable but in the Winter Series it was only the 2 400m of the final leg that marked him out as something much better than his contemporaries and it is hard to see Bernard Fayd’Herbe winning his sixth Queen’s Plate tomorrow.

Hat Puntano (10-1) is difficult to assess. At his best he just might cause an upset but the favourite would have to run way below form for him to win.

Silicone Valley ran a great race to take fifth 12 months ago but that is as good as he is while fellow 25-1 shot Deo Juvente’s flop last time – he was found to have sore muscles in his chest and hindquarters afterwards – hardly inspires confidence and the rest surely don’t count.

Mike de Kock has won the Cartier Paddock Stakes four times – the most recent with Nother Russia’s dam Mother Russia in 2010 – but he has also sent out six beaten favourites. Craig Zackey’s mount is a warm order but favourites have won four of the last ten runnings and she is taken to win.

She probably has most to fear from Nightingale and the Snaith trio Gimme Six, Star Express and Oh Susanna. The last-named has been backed from 12-1 to 7-1 this week and three-year-olds have won three of the last seven Paddocks.

Today Just Sensual can follow up her Southern Cross win by taking the Cartier Sceptre Stakes for Marcus and Joey Ramsden but don’t forget what Snaith said about Mister Colin in race three tomorrow.

By Michael Clower

Such was his reputation that Marinaresco started second favourite when he finished fourth in last year’s Queen’s Plate. This time he is a 10-1 chance despite (or just possibly because of) winning the Durban July in the interim.

“Obviously the Met is his main race as he is better suited to the trip and the Queen’s Plate is a tough ask for him,” says Candice Bass-Robinson. “A mile is tough for him but I have deliberately kept him fresh for this race. He is doing well and he put up a nice gallop on the course just over a fortnight ago.”

Marinaresco (Liesl King)

Mike Bass’s daughter, buoyed by the strong recent form of her horses and in particular by her son’s miraculous recovery from a frightening attack of viral meningitis, has high hopes for Majorca winner Nightingale in the Cartier Paddock Stakes.

“They went slow in the Victress Stakes and she couldn’t get going in time but she has come through her prep well and she must have a good chance. I actually think she prefers 1 800m to a mile.”

The stable dominates the market for the Glorious Goodwood Peninsula Handicap with Piere Strydom’s mount Horizon favourite at 5-1, Ollivander next on 6-1 and Our Mate Art joint third favourite at 7-1. “I had been struggling with Horizon but I have now got him going well. Last time was only his second run back and the way the race panned out didn’t suit him. He has a short run and he likes to be sat on.

“Ollivander is much better off at the weights than he was when he was fourth in the Premier and he definitely has a shout while Our Mate Art will run a good race if the 1 800m doesn’t find him out.”

BLOB The Queen’s Plate and the Paddock Stakes will attract worldwide interest, particularly in America as they are the first two legs of this year’s Breeders’ Cup Challenge series.

Racing South Africa seems convinced that the winners of next year’s races, and just possibly this year’s too, will no longer have to go via Mauritius to compete.  It’s latest brochure refers to the adoption of an African Horse Sickness diagnostic test by the World Organisation for Animal Health and adds: “2018 promises to be a watershed year with a drive to bring South Africa into the international arena led by the Hong Kong Jockey Club.”

By Michael Clower

Justin Snaith, with his well-known fondness for targeting the big days, sets sail into this weekend’s two-day L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate meeting with a 51-strong armada. Candice Bass-Robinson has the next biggest hand with 27 runners, Joey Ramsden has 22 and Brett Crawford 19. The quartet had three winners apiece last year while Glen Kotzen, who had two, fields 22.

Justin Snaith

Winter Series winner African Night Sky did not impress in last month’s pre-racing gallop, even allowing for the weight he was conceding, but he has been backed this week and apparently this is because word has got out from behind Snaith Racing’s electric fence-topped brick walls.

“The guys have seen how well he has been doing and he has become a talking horse on his trackwork,” says his trainer who adds, realistically perhaps, “He may be better over the Met trip.”

You can virtually name your own price about stable companions Copper Force, Fifty Cents and It Is Written – “Theoretically they have no chance. They need to raise their game but this is racing and you never know.”

Snaith has won the Queen’s Plate just once (Gimmethegreenlight in 2012) but he has taken three of the last ten runnings of the Cartier Paddock Stakes. Gimme Six is second favourite and has been laid out for it.

“I have prepped her for this race. I went into her two races earlier in the season being very careful and saving her. This is the one she will be ready for.

“She is proven in this sort of field but Star Express is also a Group 1 filly and she will run a good race if she can overcome the draw while Oh Susanna is one they are all going to have to watch out for.”

Asked if there is anything else he particularly likes Snaith singled out Mister Colin in race three on Saturday – “He looks like he will be one of my best runners.”  He was an 8-1 chance in the TAB sheet forecast but the bookmakers also read newspapers and, sadly,  you will be lucky to get half that on the day.

However Snaith is predicting a handful of winners and says: “I have been waiting a long time for this meeting and I have saved horses for it.”

By Michael Clower

The Megapool Pick 6 will be a big attraction for punters on L’ Ormarin’s Queens Plate day at Kenilworth on Saturday and the two Grade 1 races therein could provide the best opportunities to go narrow.

Legal Eagle (Liesl King)

In the big one, the weight for age Queen’s Plate, Legal Eagle will be regarded as the meeting banker. He is unbeaten in seven starts over the 1600m trip. He is attempting to win this race for the third time in a row and thus claim his fifth Grade 1 weight for age mile. Legal Eagle won the Green Point in good style, proving he still retains his ability as a six-year-old. The slight concern is the form of the Sean Tarry yard. They have not been as lethal as they were in their record-breaking 2016/2017 season. Marinaresco is the one who could pick up the pieces. He has a ton of class and showed plenty of zip in his warm up outing over 1200m. He has a plum draw of four. Captain America is also full of class and the mile is his best trip. His wide draw of nine is the drawback as he is a handy sort.

Sail South became a revelation when Richard Fourie began partnering him last season. If Greg Cheyne can get him to relax he should produce his devastating finish and will in that case be a definite contender. Fourie will be aboard second favourite Gold Standard, who showed his class when a narrow runner up to William Longword in last year’s Grade 1 Cape Guineas. That pair were well clear of the rest that day and trainer Glen Kotzen believes he has the big colt back to his best. His wide draw of eleven will make it tough. African Night Sky goes in with just one run under the belt this season and will  attempt to emulate the great Pocket Power by following up his Winter Triple Crown feat with victory in the Queen’s Plate.

The Grade 1 Cartier Paddock Stakes looks to be a three-cornered contest. Oh Susanna looks to be the closest Street Cry South Africa have ever had to the immortal Zenyatta, as she is has a huge stride. She apparently takes her racing quite hard but has had time to recover from her flying second in the Grade 1 Cape Fillies Guineas. She will relish the course and distance from a plum draw of four. Nightingale is full of class and is course and distance suited. The same can be said of Nother Russia. These three should be enough to get punters through the Pick 6.

By David Thiselton

Martin Seidl, the German jockey who rode his first South African winner on Silver Coin at Durbanville on Monday, returns home to Cologne and his job with Markus Klug on 6 February.

The 24-year-old has ridden nearly 300 winners in his native country but racing there takes place only three days a week so he was keen to increase his opportunities, hence the Cape Town stay.

Martin Seidl (hamishNIVENPhotography)

He said: “I was originally looking to go to Australia but you have to get all sorts of papers sorted out first and I remembered Andreas Jacobs talking to me about visiting South Africa one day after I’d won a Group 2 and his horse finished second.

“I got in touch with him and he organised everything. His racing manager Glen Hatt helped me and put me up.”

Seidl has only had 22 rides since he arrived on 11 November – “I found that when you come to a new country  it is not easy to get in and get good rides but Joey Ramsden has been a big help.”

The German returned the favour by bringing home Silver Coin to a decisive, but long overdue, win – particularly considering his record R6 million purchase price.

Ramsden said: “Maybe we did a bit much with him at two and we had a few problems after the Langerman but gelding has been the making of him. Monday was his first run since we cut him and we put blinkers on to sharpen him up.”

By Silvano out of a Fort Wood mare he clearly needs a lot further. Ramsden agrees but is making no predictions about how good he might yet prove to be. “I just don’t know,” he said. “But he has won over six and seven furlongs and it is not easy for three-year-olds to win against older horses at this time of the season.”

Ramsden also won with another expensive horse on Monday, Dynasty’s Blossom who cost R4.5 million and ran out a convincing winner over 2 000m. He said: “I ran her over shorter and thought I would get away with it. But I didn’t really. She is going to be alright.”

By Michael Clower