See It Again posts Met alert

Saturday’s race meeting at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth exceeded the expectations of many, with the four main events producing fantastic equine action and some rather surprising results.

If there was a prize for performance of the day, it would have been given to See It Again. The Michael Roberts-trained son of Twice Over scored a silver medal on Durban July Day as well as Gold Cup Day, but on Saturday in the Grade 2 World Sports Betting Green Point Stakes over 1600m he showed a clean pair of shoes to nine-time winner Charles Dickens and Horse-Of-The-Year Princess Calla, who finished third and fourth respectively.

Second was Brett Crawford’s At My Command, 1.75-lengths behind See It Again. With the 4-year-old colt taking apart his key rivals over 1600m, he now looks tough to oppose in the WSB Cape Met over 2000m at the same course on Saturday 27 January and is currently trading at 9-10 with some bookmakers.

ALSO READ: Bookmakers take no chances with See It Again in the Met

Piere Strydom, who has now ridden See It Again seven times for four wins and three runner-up finishes, admitted he was surprised by how easy his mount disposed of the main contenders.

“I saw this as a prep run leading up to bigger races,” said Strydom after the race, “but he’s matured into a racehorse now.

“Before he was always a big baby. Whenever I saw him in the parade ring, I used to think he needs to be trimmed down. But all of a sudden, he’s just matured.

“He needed the couple of months off after the Gold Cup meeting. He needed to mature, and now he has.”

Strydom, it must be said, made See It Again’s victory look too easy. Not once did he use his crop to motivate the four-year-old.

“It’s not what I expected. Not at all,” said Strydom. “I would have been happy to run third. Charles Dickens has always proven to be hard to beat, and I thought Princess Calla could come closest, so I would have been over the moon to finish third.”

While the raiders from the Highveld, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape experienced a very lucrative day, it was home girl Beach Bomb who scooped the top stakes cheque of R742 188 by winning the Grade 1 World Sports Betting Cape Fillies Guineas. Trained by Candice Bass-Robinson and ridden by Aldo Domeyer, this daughter of Lancaster Bomber out of champion Beach Beauty paid R11.40 for the win.

ALSO READ: Natie Kotzen pulls it off for the little guys

Tote favourite, Sean Tarry’s Mrs Geriatrix, managed to sneak into fourth place flying up late after covering the rear for most of the race after a slow start from a very wide draw. Silver Sanctuary took second spot for Mike de Kock while the Glen Kotzen-trained Rascova finished third. It did give two Highveld-raiders a second and fourth place in the richest race on the day.

De Kock’s other runner, Aragosta, took top honours in the Listed Spinawinna Slots Cape Summer Stayers Handicap over 2500m. This was a remarkable performance by the five-year-old considering that he ran seventh in the Grade 1 Betway Summer Cup at Turffontein just a week earlier, finishing just 4.15-lengths behind the winner Royal Victory.

“He had a gallop last week,” said De Kock referring to Aragosta’s run in the Summer Cup. “He won R50 000 for that gallop, so nobody’s complaining.

“And who says he can’t run consecutive Saturdays at Turffontein and Kenilworth?

“Just because nobody is doing it, does not mean it can’t be done. He is an athlete. Athletes perform.

“I didn’t come down to Cape Town with my bucket and spade and what’s that thing… a mankini.

“I came here to raid,” said De Kock.

He is also adamant the sport can only benefit from raiders. “What racing needs now more than ever is the cross-pollination between owners, trainers, and punters. The best horses should run against each other all the time. Not once a year.

“Owners and trainers need to make it happen.

“Punters should also expand their horizons a bit. Too many of them only bet on specific centres, like Kenilworth or Turffontein.

“But if the best horses compete against each other more often, they will be inclined take a bet regardless of where the race is run.”

Candice Dawson’s Raiseahallelujah took second in the stayers race, ensuring a 1-2 result for the Highveld raiders. While the Justin Snaith-trained Kwinta’s Light won the Grade 2 wsb.co.za Southern Cross Stakes over 1000m, followed home by the Dean Kannemeyer-trained Shantastic, it was East Cape raider Alan Greeff’s Three Rocks who caught the eye with her third-place finish just 0.60-lengths behind the winner.

After five consecutive wins at Fairview in Gqeberha, this three-year-old daughter of Heavenly Blue showed she is good enough to run with the best, so expect to see her in action at Kenilworth again during the Racing Renaissance Cape Summer Season of Champions.

KwaZulu-Natal based Tony Rivalland also tasted success with his lone raider King Of The Gauls in the penultimate race, a Class 3 Handicap over 1200m.

First entries for the R2-million World Sports Betting Cape Town Met (Grade 1) (Weight-For-Age) over 2000m at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on Saturday 27 January:

AL MUTHANA (R Maingard); ANFIELDS ROCKET (B Crawford); ARAGOSTA (M F De Kock); AT MY COMMAND (B Crawford); BARATHEON (P Botha); BLESS MY STARS (S G Tarry); CAPE EAGLE (W A Nel); CHARLES DICKENS (C Bass-Robinson); COUSIN CASEY (S G Tarry); DOUBLE SUPERLATIVE (J S Snaith); FUTURE SWING (J S Snaith); MAKE IT SNAPPY (B Crawford); MASTER REDOUTE (W A Nel); MONTIEN (P Botha); PACAYA (J S Snaith); PONTE PIETRA (D Kannemeyer); PRINCESS CALLA (S G Tarry); PUERTO MANZANO (J J van Vuuren); RASCALLION (V H Marshall); ROCKPOOL (J S Snaith); ROYAL AUSSIE (J S Snaith); ROYAL VICTORY (N Kotzen); RUNAWAY SONG (D Kannemeyer); SAARTJIE (W A Nel); SAFE PASSAGE (M F De Kock); SEE IT AGAIN (M L Roberts); SENSO UNICO (V H Marshall); SHOEMAKER (M F De Kock); SUGAR MOUNTAIN (C Bass-Robinson); TRIPLE TIME (J S Snaith); UNIVERSAL (A N Marcus); WATERBERRY LANE (R Maingard); WITHOUT QUESTION (J S Snaith).