July winner, Kommetdieding, is a punter's favourite for the Cape Town Met this weekend. Picture: Darren Stewart/Gallo Images
If the betting boards are to be believed, Saturday’s 2,000m WSB Cape Town Met should be divided into two classes – as in sports car racing. There’s Class 1, which is attracting all the wagering attention, and then there’s the others, tootling along some laps adrift.
Five runners – Kommetdieding, Jet Dark, Double Superlative, Linebacker and Marina – are at single-figure odds, while the remaining six stretch out into the frozen wasteland of 90-1.
Those drawing the most money in the past week have been dual Queen’s Plate victor Jet Dark and star filly Marina.
The former, once quoted as long as 5-1, even after his most recent heroics on 8 January, shortened to 7-2 to share favouritism with July champion Kommetdieding – who was second to him in the Queen’s Plate.
Jet Dark’s stable mate Double Superlative, 15-10 joint favourite with Kommetdieding just over a week earlier, had eased slightly to 15-4 as of Tuesday with race sponsor World Sports Betting.
Marina’s odds have been cut in half – from 13-1 to 13-2 – in recent days.
Hoedspruit, who won his Met prep race, the 1800m Premier Stakes, in storming style, is not capturing the popular imagination and has drifted from 10-1 to 15-1, while two-time July winner Do It Again has wafted out from 8-1 to 16-1.
The rest? Two chances, slim and zero – and slim has left the course.
MET BETTING
7-2 Jet Dark, Kommetdieding
15-4 Double Superlative
5-1 Linebacker
13-2 Marina
15-1 Hoedspruit
16-1 Do It Again
50-1 Second Base
70-1 Puerto Manzano
75-1 Cirillo
90-1 Rockin’ Ringo
