Three-year-old faces test of his special tag.
Jan van Goyen is regarded as a great artist whose landscape paintings inspired many other masters of the golden age of Dutch art. But viewers of his works these days – with the modern-day bent for bling and razzle-dazzle – would probably see Jan’s 17th century daubings as rather gloomy.
His depictions of villages and ships at sea invariably have banks of heavy cloud glowering overhead.
The racehorse named after the artist is favourite for Saturday’s L’Ormarins King’s Plate and the meeting organisers have been hoping young Jan doesn’t bring his namesake’s miserable rain clouds with him.
Good news for them is the weather boffins predicting sunny skies – after all, the LKP is one of Cape Town’s most fashionable, upmarket social bashes and sunshine is essential for showing off the finery (in a palette of blue and white).
Not that Jan the horse would have minded a bit of wet as he has handled very soft ground in his short career. But there is no doubt his best performance came on good going – and over this very course and distance – in the Cape Guineas, when he thrashed a strong field of his peers and had bookmakers scrambling to cut his odds to the current 3-1.
Challengers
Three-year-olds like Jan Van Goyen have historically not dominated the LKP and that’s probably why he is the only representative of his generation in Saturday’s 14-strong field. However, three-year-olds Jet Dark and One Stripe have upset expectations in recent years and, as we keep being told, we are living in changed times.
So, Jan Van Goyen is expected to confirm suspicions that he is a “special” sophomore and the “Play Station horse” his jockey Callan Murray calls him due to the way he responds so readily to his buttons being pushed.
SA’s Equus Horse of the Year Eight On Eighteen is second on the betting boards – probably only because he hasn’t raced since July 2025 and might need the comeback run to get to peak fitness.
Hollywoodbets Durban July champ The Real King is another serious challenger, while the enigmatic See It Again has to go into punters’ calculations after showing signs of past prowess.
It doesn’t end there, with the likes of Garrix, Dave The King, Sail The Seas, Gladatorian, Questioning and Fire Attack all having arguments in their favour.
SELECTION:
2 Jan Van Goyen, 10 See It Again, 13 Fire Attack, 7 Eight On Eighteen
