ONE of the most competitive fields in years will face the starter in the battle for top honours in the 2007 Grade 1 R2-million J&B Met to be run over 2000m at Kenilworth on Saturday, January 27.
The famous race is the premier event of South Africa’s Sizzling Summer Season and heads a 10-race card which also features two other Grade 1 events, the R500 000 Investec Cape Derby over 2 000m and the R400 000 Fancourt Majorca Stakes over 1 600m.
Eight of the 24 first acceptors for the J&B Met did not stand their ground at the final acceptance stage today (Monday) but the only surprising non-acceptor was Charles Laird’s Hunting Tower who had drawn badly near the outside of the field.
As most of those that failed to accept had been drawn wide, only those drawn 10 and wider initially have benefited by the exclusion of Golden Dice who had drawn nine. They will move in one position at the barrier.
With British rider Jamie Spencer under suspension, his ride on Mike de Kock’s Equal Image has been taken by top rider Johnny Geroudis. The gelding is drawn well at seven but has top weight of 58kg to shoulder.
Vodacom Durban July winner Eyeofthetiger from the Dean Kannemeyer yard and Geoff Woodruff’s Elusive Fort are joint second in the weights with 56kg with Eyeofthetiger breaking from barrier 10 and Elusive Fort having drawn wide at 15.
The Charles Laird coupling of Lion Tamer and Likeithot have both drawn well and stable jockey Anton Marcus has chosen to ride Lion Tamer with Guilermo Figueroa on Likeithot. Lion Tamer showed he was in top form on Saturday when he won a good race over 1 400m at Turffontein.
Marcus gave up his day off to ride Lion Tamer in that race and was obviously very pleased with the Western Winter colt’s performance.
Emperor Napoleon, runner-up to Jay Peg in the Bloodstock SA Cape Guineas recently, will be ridden by stable jockey Weichong Marwing and, while he is drawn right on the outside of the field at 16, trainer Mike de Kock said the draw was not a problem as both Emperor Napoleon and Equal Image would come from off the pace.
Tarwood (front) is Mike de Kock’s Cape Derby runner. (Gold Circle).
Mike Bass accepted with all three of his runners and Jeff Lloyd will again ride Pocket Power who is generally considered to be the horse to beat. He is the ante-post favourite and being drawn at nine with 53kg on his back he has everything going for him.
Paul Lafferty’s Pinero is the only KwaZulu-Natal runner in the race. He is highly rated by his stable and it is no secret Lafferty was very upset last year that the gelding did not get a run in the Vodacom Durban July.
Lafferty has acquired the services of jockey Piere Strydom and Pinero could be seen as the dark horse in the race.
THE FINAL FIELDS FOR THE GRADE 1 FEATURES ON J&B MET DAY, 27 JANUARY, ARE:
GRADE 1 R2 MILLION J&B MET, 2000M
Sc# Horse Mass MR Draw B A T Jockey Trainer
1 EQUAL IMAGE 58.0 107 (107) 7 X A J Geroudis Mike de Kock
2 EYEOFTHETIGER 56.0 116 (115) 10 B A G Schlechter Dean Kannemeyer
3 ELUSIVE FORT 56.0 113 (112) 15 A M Khan Geoff Woodruff
4 HILGROVE 54.5 107 (106) 4 A G Schofield Mike Bass
5 JAGGED ICE 54.5 107 (106) 11 A K Neisius Dean Kannemeyer
6 AFRICAN APPEAL 54.0 104 (104) 3 A G Cheyne Mike Bass
7 MAJESTIC SUN 53.5 104 (103) 2 A R Fourie Basil Marcus
8 POCKET POWER 53.0 112 (111) 9 A J Lloyd Mike Bass
9 SILVER MIST 53.0 108 (107) 13 B A G Hatt Joey Ramsden
10 LION TAMER 53.0 106 (105) 5 A A Marcus Charles Laird
11 SILVERPOINT 53.0 105 (105) 14 A G Puller Mike Azzie
12 PINERO 53.0 104 (103) 8 A P Strydom Paul Lafferty
13 LIKEITHOT 53.0 103 (102) 6 A G Figueroa Charles Laird
14 SUCCESFUL BIDDER 53.0 99 ( 99) 1 B A T B Smith Sean Tarry
15 EMPEROR NAPOLEON 52.0 107 ( 95) 16 A W Marwing Mike de Kock
16 BADGER’S GIFT 51.5 105 (105) 12 A T M Byleveld Glen Kotzen
Couplings: (1,15) (2,5) (4,6,8) (10,13)GRADE 1 R400 000 FANCOURT MAJORCA STAKES, 1 600M
Sc# Horse Mass MR Draw B A T Jockey Trainer
1 SOFT LANDING 58.0 108 (108) 12 A M Khan Geoff Woodruff
2 BOLD ELLINORE 58.0 107 (107) 9 P A W Marwing Mike de Kock
3 STRATOS 58.0 102 (102) 3 A A Marcus Mike Azzie
4 VEILED ESSENCE 58.0 99 ( 99) 10 A J Geroudis Glen Kotzen
5 GOLDEN SHINA 58.0 98 ( 98) 15 A G Schlechter Joey Ramsden
6 COUNTESS CORLIA 58.0 96 ( 96) 1 A R Fourie Basil Marcus
7 KIMBERLITE 58.0 93 ( 93) 6 A M Byleveld Glen Kotzen
8 STATE COACH 58.0 92 ( 92) 13 B A B Morgenrood Mitchell Wiese
9 EXPRESS QUEEN 58.0 90 ( 90) 4 A G Schofield Justin Snaith
10 PAGE GIRL 58.0 88 ( 88) 7 A F Anthony Piet Steyn
11 ZOOMING ZELLIE 57.5 93 ( 93) 2 A K Neisius Mike Bass
12 OUR TABLE MOUNTAIN 57.5 87 ( 87) 5 A G Hatt Joey Ramsden
13 SUN CLASSIQUE 53.0 102 ( 92) 14 A J Lloyd Mike Bass
14 FESTIVE OCCASION 53.0 98 ( 88) 11 A P Strydom Geoff Woodruff
15 ASYLUM SEEKER 53.0 97 ( 87) 8 A B Smith Joey Ramsden
Couplings: (1,14) (4,7) (5,12,15) (11,13)
GRADE 1 R500 000 INVESTEC CAPE DERBY, 2000M
Sc# Horse Mass MR Draw B A T Jockey Trainer
1 JAY PEG 57.0 110 ( 98) 5 A J Lloyd Basil Marcus
2 STATE CROWN 57.0 104 ( 92) 10 A F Anthony Piet Steyn
3 WONDER LAWN 57.0 96 ( 84) 13 A K Neisius Dean Kannemeyer
4 PICK SIX 57.0 95 ( 83) 4 A A Marcus Charles Laird
5 RIPPLING RING 57.0 93 ( 81) 6 A P Strydom Dominic Zaki
6 SENOR JET 57.0 93 ( 81) 1 A M Byleveld Glen Kotzen
7 WHISPERING WOOD 57.0 92 ( 80) 2 A G Puller Glen Puller
8 FAROLITO 57.0 91 ( 79) 12 B A G Hatt Piet Steyn
9 ELIXIR 57.0 86 ( 74) 8 B A M Neisius Vaughan Marshall
10 TARWOOD 57.0 86 ( 74) 3 A W Marwing Mike de Kock
11 WEATHERTALK 57.0 84 ( 72) 9 A G Behr Dean Kannemeyer
12 CLASSIC FOREST 57.0 79 ( 67) 7 B A B Morgenrood Mitchell Wiese
13 CAPTAIN RIKER 57.0 78 ( 66) 11 B A C Du Plooy Vaughan Marshall
Couplings: (2,8) (3,11) (9,13)
