See It Again has a great King’s Plate firmly in his sights

Excellent news in the leadup to Saturday’s L’Ormarins King’s Plate is that the notorious “Cape Crawl” is unlikely to show its ugly face in the running of South Africa’s premier mile horse race.

The Crawl is an old tactic of riders up front deliberately slowing down the proceedings, throwing the best horses off their stride and allowing lesser runners to make a desperate sprint for the line – often resulting in upset results, possibly undeserving winners, and disgruntled racegoers.

The Justin Snaith stable has proclaimed they intend sending one of their five contenders, in this case aptly named Speed Machine, to the front to set a brisk pace. They hope it will afford their other King’s Plate runners – notably classy three-year-old colts Snow Pilot and Hluhluwe – their best chances in the R2-million Grade 1 weight-for-age contest.

Assistant trainer Jonathan Snaith told Turf Talk, “Speed Machine will set good fractions so it will be a solid pace which will produce a true-run mile which normally results in a fair race for all participants.

“…there is nothing worse than watching a canter then sprint show. What invariably happens when there is no pace, certain favourites can fight their riders and run poorly, which is disappointing for punters and their owners.”

He added, “Looking at the field there will be plenty of pace with Montien also looking to set a good, solid tempo.”

Superior galloping ability

However, Jonathan was realistic about the Snaith chances, admitting their runners faced a tough task against South Africa’s two top-ranked racehorses – See It Again and Charles Dickens, both of whom glory in a merit rating of 132.

The two stars will, of course, also benefit greatly from a truly run race as it will allow them to demonstrate their proven superior galloping ability in the closing stages.

See It Again’s domination of Charles Dickens in the recent Green Point Stakes – over this same Kenilworth 1600m – must make him the punters’ top choice. Up until that moment it was commonly reckoned that Charles Dickens was sharper over the distance, with See It Again possibly top dog over further and a more likely winner of the 2000m Cape Town Met in three weeks’ time.

Charles Dickens’s trainer Candice Bass-Robinson and jockey Aldo Domeyer will be dead keen to change such new perceptions. See It Again’s team of Michael Roberts and Piere Strydom will be more relaxed about things as the Met is their main goal of the Cape summer season.

It’s an epic showdown that is likely to add a memorable new chapter to one of the great races of the world.