Make It Snappy is the favourite for the Cape Town Met. Picture: Peter Heeger/Gallo Images
A bare two months ago if you’d said a three-year-old filly called Make It Snappy would start Cape Town Met week as the bookmakers’ favourite for the big race you’d have been considered a raving idiot.
Yet here we are. Met sponsor World Sports Betting has the Brett Crawford-trained youngster at the top of its boards at odds of 15-4 – having leapfrogged the likes of dual-Queen’s Plate winner Jet Dark, defending Met champ Kommetdieding, Durban July victor Sparkling Water and a few other Grade 1 hotshots.
Three-year-old winners of the Met are fairly rare, as are female horses; Oh Susannah is the only individual meeting those criteria to have managed it in more than 100 years. So, what’s with this upstart?
In November 2022, Make It Snappy had two races and one win on her CV and was, at best, a well-bred, promising prospect. Victory in the 1600m Summer Bowl at 14-1 earned her a starting slot in early-December’s Cape Fillies Guineas, which she nailed at 6-1.
That was a good effort against her peers, but when owners Hollywood Syndicate supplemented her entry into the Met eight weeks later, not a few seasoned observers muttered about over-reach and overexcitement.
Then came the Paddock Stakes, a 1800m Grade 1 contest for elite female horses in early January, and Make It Snappy lowered the colours of Equus Horse of the Year Captain’s Ransom with an astonishing start-to-finish performance.
The punt money wasn’t slow in arriving, and even more of it when the filly drew starting gate No 2 for the Met and leading jockey Keagan de Melo was booked to partner her. With just 51.5kg to carry – thanks to weight-for age and sex allowances – suddenly she looked a real threat to the big guns who will have to lug many more kilos around the 2000m of Kenilworth.
The weight of money for Make It Snappy has seen some of her rivals drifting in the market – though not all, with Jet Dark and Kommetdieding remaining steady.
For bettors who like value, there is plenty of temptation around. How about 7-1 Sparkling Water, 18-1 Al Muthana, 33-1 Marina, 35-1 Do It Again and 45-1 Nexus. These horses seldom run bad races and will give you a run for your money.
Of course, much of the betting interest on Met day will be focused on the tote – especially with the last nine of the 12 races being designated World Pool races by the Hong Kong Jockey Club. This means punters all over the world will be contributing to monster-sized betting pools on those races – for Win, Place, Exacta, Swinger and Quinella bets.
Last year, R650-million was wagered on eight Met day races. Could we hit the magic R1-billion this time around?
The 2022 Met itself attracted R97.8-million and R100-million looks a dead cert on Saturday.
Locally, the Pick 6 pool is predicted to top R10-million, while the Quartet on the Met could amass a pool of R50-million.
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