It's a vintage renewal of the three-year-old classic.
Racing fans will be talking about Saturday’s Grade 1 Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas for years to come – maybe decades.
The nature of the race makes it a historic milestone in the game: by December each year, the Western Cape three-year-old scene has shaken out and the best youngsters are known to the cognoscenti.
These are the horses that will make headlines in major races over the next few years – and go on to make names at stud. The Guineas is often referred to as “the stallion maker”.
It’s easy to get excited about young, talented horses battling for superiority and fame. This weekend’s Guineas has even been enthusiastically described as “a vintage renewal for the ages”. The milestone reference is apt in such a swirl of hyperbole.
Battle between trainers
There are several subplots to this history-making tale, most notably South Africa’s leading trainers striving to prove their eminence in the conditioning of up-and-coming horses. Most of them have already won the Cape Guineas before.
Old soldiers Vaughan Marshall and Dean Kannemeyer have chests full of medals – each going for their seventh Guineas gong – while upcountry raider Mike de Kock is eyeing his sixth. Reigning champion trainer Justin Snaith saddles five runners in his quest for a fourth Cape Guineas.
Another sideshow pits Snaith and his horse Randolph Hearst against rival Glen Kotzen and his candidate Good For You in a revenge saga arising out of the latter beating the former in an argy-bargy finih to the recent Cape Punters Cup.
But, on Saturday, Snaith will mostly be wanting to put things right after an agonising Hollywoodbets Kenilworth meeting the previous weekend when he recorded seven second places on the 10-race card – and a third in the main race, the WSB Cape Fillies Guineas, with Wish List behind impressive winner Quickstepgal.
Snaith’s best chance in Saturday’s Guineas appears to lie with Happy Verse, a 7-1 shot.
The 2-1 ante-post market leader is Kannemeyer’s Gimme Rules, a full brother to Durban July hero The Real Prince. De Kock charge Jan van Goyen, runner-up in the recent Dingaans at Turfffontein, is second on the boards at 5-2.
SELECTION
4 Jan Van Goyen, 2 Gimme Rules, 5 Vapour Trail, 13 Good For You
