Top trainer Justin Snaith makes his picks for the Cape Town Met

Trainer Justin Snaith believes his Queen’s Plate hero Jet Dark and stable companion Double Superlative will fight out the finish of the Grade 1 World Sports Betting Cape Town Met at Kenilworth on Saturday.

Snaith has all the confidence in Cape Guineas winner Double Superlative, the only three-year-old in the field. So much so that he would not allow jockey Anton Marcus to ride the colt if he could not get his weight down to 54kg.

“If Anton makes the weight, he’ll ride it, but there is another option. Richard Fourie is on the bench. “If anything goes wrong, or Anton can’t make the weight, Richard is available. I won’t consider Marcus above weight. That’s a no,” said Snaith this week.

Marcus has taken a few days off racing this week, presumably to lose the necessary weight without exhausting himself ahead of Met Day.

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“Anton is aware of that, but he should make it quite comfortably.

“Losing the weight does take a lot out of a jockey and as one gets older, you get more sensible.

“It’s not his first rodeo. He is a professional and I think he wants to save his energy for the races. Even on the day he is taking very limited rides.”

Snaith is looking forward to a very competitive race and says anything can happen in a field of this calibre . But Double Superlative is his choice.

“He’s quite an unknown, which happens when you throw a three-year-old into a field with this class of older horses. You don’t have any form lines to go by.

“I thought the three-year-olds in the Queen’s Plate ran very decent races and, looking at the Guineas form line, Double Superlative looks the one they have to beat,” he said.

Snaith suggests punters keep a close eye on his runner Pacaya in Race 6, the Grade 3 Politician Stakes, as this could be a good indicator of what to expect from Double Superlative in the Met.

Pacaya ran six lengths behind Double Superlative in the Cape Guineas and then finished 3.80 lengths behind Jet Dark in the Queen’s Plate. Based on that form line, the three-year-old, who is well and still on the up, gets the nod from the trainer, with Jet Dark the biggest threat.

“Jet Dark obviously has most of the older horses held on his Queen’s Plate run and we are convinced that he will stay the 2,000m trip. If he replicates that run, it’s going to be very hard for anything to beat him, including Double Superlative,” said Snaith.

“Jet Dark is quite lightly raced and the Met will be his third run aft er a rest, so it technically should be his best run.

“I think he is a safe bet to run in the top two … if he doesn’t win it.”

The champion trainer also saddles July legend Do it Again and Hoedspruit.

“Take nothing away from Do it Again. He’s a sensational horse and I would like nothing more than to see him out in front. But he is a better horse in Durban, that’s just a reality.

“In Cape Town he just doesn’t seem to be that effective. He does have a lot of fans and hopefully he produces something special.”