All eyes were on the names of the big guns, the favourite Legal Eagle, the defending champion and Equus Horse Of The Year Futura and his stablemate and former Equus Horse Of The Year Legislate.
All three of them drew superbly in the 15 horse field. Legal Eagle jumps from draw 3, from where Anton Marcus will have many options, Futura is two inside of the draw he had last year in 6 and Legislate drew 4.
The Gr 1 Sansui Summer Cup runner up Deo Juvente (announced as a doubtful starter due an injury and could not gallop – stipes permission) is next in the betting behind the dynamic trio and drew 11.
Master Sabina has drawn wide in 14, which gives him a tough task considering he jumped from a good draw of seven when winning the Sansui Summer Cup.
The fancy of many Captain America, who will attempt to make it two Mets for trainer Brett Crawford in successive years, the only filly in the race Smart Call, who is quietly fancied by pundits over an ideal distance, landed a fair draw of eight.
The Gr 2 Peninsula winner Light The Lights has come into his own since gelding and landed the coveted pole position draw, from where his excellent turn of foot should be effective in the straight.
Not so lucky was last year’s runner up Gold Onyx in the widest draw of all 15, but it should not bother him as he likes to be dropped out due to his renowned short run in, in which he must be covered up until as late in the race as possible.
The evergreen Punta Arenas ran third from a wide draw two years ago and just loves to gallop so won’t be too phased by a draw of ten.
The biggest outsider in the race, Krambambuli, could possibly be a pacemaker for Futura and Legislate so a draw of 12 should give him plenty of time and room to get to the front.
Helderberg Blue ran third last year from a draw of 14 and now has a plum draw of 2, although he faces a tougher field.
His stablemate Paterfamilias has a tough draw of 13 but this might enable him to get handy from where he has done well in big races before.
Rank outsider King Of Pain has beaten the best in a Gr 1 weight for age mile before and has proven he stays this trip, so at if bouncing back to his best could be a threat from a nice draw of seven, especially considering his Gr 1 win was over 18 months ago meaning he does not have to carry the 2kg Gr 1 penalty that all of Legal Eagle, Futura, Legislate,
Master Sabina, Captain America and Smart Call have to carry.
One of the six Highveld-trained horses Mac De Lago has landed a tricky draw of nine over a trip which should suit perfectly, but he does have a fine turn of foot so can afford to come from off the pace.
