Big race day of 2026 will be long remembered.
Horse racing has driven Gary Player to drink.
The nine-time golfing Major champion admitted as much in a televised interview on WSB Cape Town Met day at Kenilworth on Saturday.
“I played in the biggest golf tournaments in the world – and I never choked – first prize $10-million. But sitting there today, and I don’t drink, I had a glass of wine before the race because I was like this,” said Player raising a trembling hand.
In golf, such a tremor is called “the yips” and the legend could never have achieved his famous feats if he’d had such an affliction on the world’s greens.
‘Best filly in the country’
The race that had Gary needing a steadier was the Grade 1 Maine Chance Farms Majorca Stakes, the main supporting feature on the 2026 Met card. In the end, Gary’s distinctive black and white silks were carried to victory by Double Grand Slam, a five-year-old mare he owns in partnership with Gaynor Rupert of Drakenstein Stud and his friend Dave McLean.
When the proud man described Double Grand Slam as “the best filly in the country”, sceptics could hardly have accused him of exaggeration. The Majorca was her third Grade 1 title and her 10th win in 21 career starts.
The success cemented her place as a prized future broodmare and Player revealed that he and his partners were already deliberating about which stallion to send her to. “So far, it’s One World, the sire of the champion One Stripe, who has done so well in America.”
Andrew Fortune shines
Double Grand Slam’s victory was just one notable moment on a memorable day at Kenilworth.
She was ridden to victory by 58-year-old Andrew Fortune, who was the undoubted star of the show as he grabbed four wins on the 12-race programme – including the Met itself on See It Again – and celebrated a couple of truly remarkable career comeback stories.
Not only did the hugely popular Fortune overcome drug addiction to become champion jockey a while back, last year he returned to the saddle after several years of retirement – shedding more than 30kg to get his riding licence reissued. Winning a first Met and being centre-stage was a dream come true and fitting reward for uncommon bravery and determination.
Other highlights of the day included:
Champion trainer Justin Snaith recording five wins, including See It Again and Double Grand Slam in the principal events.
Another of Snaith’s winners, Snow Pilot, a five-year-old entire who made a sensational comeback to racing to land Race 6, the SABC A Stakes over 1400m. The sometime Grade 1 champion was nursed back to winning form from a ligament injury by the Snaith team.
The horse is heading for the stallion barn at Drakenstein amid much anticipation: his father Lancaster Bomber was a much-lamented loss to the South African breeding scene and Snaith has a “very, very good feeling” the strapping Snow Pilot will be a worthy replacement.
Stallion Futura reminding everyone of his own Met victory back in the day by siring two early winners on the card: Note To Self (Race 2) and Ahead Of The Facts (Race 3), both of whom gave notice of their long-distance potential and wet appetites among racing fans for big races to come.
