Act Of War will attempt to follow in the talented hoofprints of Capetown Noir after smashing the Durbanville 1 400m course record on Saturday.

As did Capetown Noir – the only other horse to justify favouritism in the Kuda Matchem in the last decade – last season’s Cape Guineas winner has the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate as his target and in the meantime there is the possibility – not to put too fine a point on it – of a mouth-watering clash with Legislate and/or Futura in the Green Point Stakes on November 21.

The 1-3 hotpot was entitled to beat Saturday’s rivals with some ease and it wasn’t so much that he won that impressed but the way he did it after being off for five months, having a rushed preparation and travelling as many kilometres as a long distance lorry driver.

Anton Marcus deliberately gave him plenty to do, so much so in fact that at the 1 400m mark the disturbing thought flashed through the writer’s mind: ‘He is going to have to be Nijinsky to win from there.’ Substitute your own, more modern, equine superstar if you will but six lengths in a field at full flow is a hell of a lot. Yet the favourite did it with over 50m still to run and, what is more, he took nearly three-quarters of a second off Signal Green’s 1 min 23.8 sec record that had stood for 20 years.

It all contributed to a day to remember for owner Markus Jooste who was at his daughter’s wedding but his retained jockey recalled an even more memorable occasion when he rode the mighty Empress Club to victory in the South Easter Sprint here in 1992. She also broke the course record that day.

Marcus reckons that this was his last visit to Durbanville and he added: “Joey asked me to ride Act Of War a little more conservatively than usual because he hadn’t run for some time.

“In the race it was always my intention to wait until the last furlong, or furlong and a half, because they went a fair tempo and I wasn’t prepared to get into any sort of bunfight.”

Ramsden recalled how he had galloped the horse at Greyville a fortnight earlier when Marcus wasn’t happy with him.

He added: “I probably left it a little bit late bringing him back down from Durban and we galloped him here last Sunday. I then smashed him on the treadmill on Tuesday, giving him another strong piece of work.

“Today he looked magnificent – the best I’ve ever seen him – and he was different class. I reckon to keep him at around a mile so it’s the Green Point and the Queen’s Plate.”

Ramsden revealed that the Arc-En-Ciel bred Dynasty colt had been under consideration for the Champions Cup in July “but he ran a slight temperature. That’s the only reason we didn’t run him.”

He fitted  a tongue tie for the first time in a race, explaining: “From day one the horse has made a little bit of a noise and, as he had taken to it well, I didn’t see any reason why not to use it.”

Racing manager Derek Brugman added: “This is a bloody good horse and to win like that after what he has been through in the last couple of weeks, with the all the travelling and galloping to get him ready, is quite something.”

The Mike Bass stable is considering bringing Inara back in distance after the way Gaynor Rupert’s homebred gave the stable its second Diana Stakes in three seasons.

Candice Robinson said: “She showed a lot of pace here so maybe she will run in a sprint before going for a second Paddock and Majorca.”

Certainly Grant van Niekerk was impressed, saying: “I was never worried at any stage. I knew what I had under me and she showed what she is made of.”

By Michael Clower

Picture: Act Of War and jockey Anton Marcus in the Kuda Matchem Stakes (Liesl King)