Dettori adds to the hype surrounding Sun Met

The Sun Met, celebrated with GH Mumm raceday will go down in history as the most lucrative day for horseracing on the continent.


The buzz around the Sun Met, celebrated with GH Mumm has been electric. So much so that it has attracted one of horseracing’s superstars to be part of the proceedings at Kenilworth Racecourse on 28 January.

With the final field for this R5-million showdown unveiled on Wednesday the news regarding Frankie Dettori’s participation in proceedings was made official as he was confirmed as the jockey for The Conglomerate in the main event.

It won’t be the first time that the likeable rider has wowed his fans on South African shores having been part of three editions of the annual International Jockeys’ Challenge, his most recent visit being in November last year.

Dettori, who has achieved success at the elite level of the sport all over the world, has so far been booked for four rides on the 13-race programme with mounts in the CTS Mile (non-black type), the Betting World Cape Flying Championship (Gr 1), the Investec Cape Derby (Gr 1) and in the Sun Met (Gr 1).

“Frankie Dettori has worked with Investec for the last three years as our ambassador for the Investec Derby Festival at Epsom Downs racecourse in the UK; everyone at Investec is thrilled that Frankie will be riding at this year’s Met on Saturday, 28 January, 2017. Frankie Dettori has enjoyed global success on the international horseracing stage and we look forward to welcoming him to Cape Town,” Janet Larsen, head of Group Marketing at Investec SA said of the popular jockey’s impending arrival.

It adds further international flavour to this world-class event with French jockey Stephane Pasquier also taking part after it was announced last week that he would be taking part in four race meetings around the country, culminating in his appearance on Met day although he has not secured a mount in the main race.

The Sun Met, celebrated with GH Mumm raceday will go down in history as the most lucrative day for horseracing on the continent with upwards of R22-million in stakes money offered on a day that sees Cape Town’s social scene descend on Kenilworth.

The ‘Decades of Glamour’ theme is set to inspire a number of fantastic raceday looks spanning between the 1920s right through to the disco era of the 1970s and beyond.

The official Sun Met after-party presented by GUESS has attracted a star line-up of some of South Africa’s biggest artists including the likes of Mi Casa, Goodluck, Sketchy Bongo, Euphonik, Kyle Deutsch and Shekinah.

Tickets for the Sun Met, celebrated with GH Mumm are available from Ticketpro here

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