Muis’s race is laced with pace

The Michael Roberts Stakes losing its Listed status is a lamentable blot on the generally pleasing landscape of South African racing in 2024.

The country’s greatest jockey and a globally revered racing figure is celebrated each year with a 1750m race at Pietermaritzburg’s Scottsville – the place where he rode his first winner, Smyrna, back in 1968. It’s an honour for owners, trainers and jockeys to win the trophy and the event should be getting major backing and marketing from the KwaZulu-Natal racing community.

Sadly, minds have been elsewhere in recent years, preoccupied with looming financial doom for local operator Gold Circle (now happily averted). Thus, the Michael Roberts Stakes field for January 2023’s race was sub-par, with no runners having a merit rating above 99.

The quality of competition has a big bearing on how races are ranked, so Michael “Muis” Roberts – former British champion jockey and 11-time SA champ – suffered the indignity of having his race downgraded to “Non-Black Type”. This means it is still a feature event but its achievers do not get their names printed in bold type in the mightily influential Stud Book.

Hopefully, things will return to their rightful state in 2025, after the latest edition, which takes place this Sunday 14 January.

Cape Eagle

Promisingly, the weekend’s nine-horse field boasts four runners with MRs of 100-plus, including last year’s victor Cape Eagle on 103. This gelding from the Andre Nel yard had a rating of just 89 when winning as a 33-10 favourite and has since added lustre to the achievement by winning twice more and polishing his CV in good company.

Cape Eagle will be fancied by many punters to defend his title with his speedy front-running tactics. There are other contenders who also like to play the hare but they will all have to overcome a triple challenge from trainer Peter Muscutt, who saddles likely favourite Formagear alongside Down To Business and Rockie Reef, both of whom appear to also have decent chances.

It’s a very competitive lineup and no result would be a major surprise.

Another former Michael Roberts Stakes winner is eight-year-old News Stream, who landed it in 2021 for trainer Mark Dixon. Despite getting on a bit, this fellow remains a consistent handicapper and ran a promising prep race over this course and distance just over a month ago.

The great man Muis himself has won his own race five times – as a jockey, in the twilight of his career, and as a trainer – but in recent years has chosen not to contest it due to the social pressures of hobnobbing with crowds of friends and fans on the day.

On Sunday, he’ll be answering many a question about his stable superstar, See It Again, who ran second in last weekend’s L’Ormarins King’s Plate at Kenilworth and is joint ante-post favourite for the WSB Cape Town Met in two weeks’ time.