Not so great.............the Queen's Plate result

For the majority of the punting public. I can go into great detail about what the tipsters had to say, like Jack Milner for eg. in his preview and also ex jock Felix Coetzee, likewise from the stable Mr. Chris Snaith etc etc etc.

Also the talk from the stable of Kingvoldt and the jockey wasting to ride at 55kg and the fact that both horses Legislate and Kingvoldt race in the colors of the sponsors, so at the end of the day, there should be no surprises if........................

Punters, the normal ones who follow form and not crystal balls will adopt a " tread warily " approach to the upcoming J& B Met.

What has been a great season with the top performances of Act of War and Majmu has now been put into reverse in one foul swoop.

Let us be honest, there seemed to be an awful amount of negatives about the eventual winner, in fact he was much more fancied for the July and was becoming a bit like his ex stablemate Jackson, so good for the stable that it put the best hoof forward.

Punters are the life-blood of racing and it is true that the game in itself is not attracting new young blood, so those who are intent on throwing stones at disgruntled punters should seriously consider whether it is in the best interests of racing that existing die-hard and hard-done punters should migrate to other forms of gambling.

While the Durban July has a build-up with great anticipation and excitement and discussions after the gallops,I donot wish to be a prophet of doom,but the Met of 2015 will
see a lot of hardened punters adopt a tread wary approach after the " Triple Crown" winner's stone last shock.

...........triple crown......KZN Guineas/ Daily News 2OOO/ Vodacom Durban July.

From Racing and Sports..........................

Legislate Flops As Futura Takes Queen's Plate

The Brett Crawford-trained Futura won the G1 L'Ormarins Queen's Plate at Kenilworth on Saturday in a stunning result that saw South African Horse of the Year Legilsate finish last as a hot favourite.

Bernard Fayd'Herbe
Bernard Fayd'Herbe Photo by Press Photo

Legislate was thought to be unbeatable after breaking the Kenilworth course record for a mile in his previous race but didn’t have the fuel in the tank to produce his normally devastating finish.

Futura, trained by Brett Crawford and ridden superbly by Bernard Fayd’Herbe, showed no ill effects from his less than ideal preparation which had seen him miss a race as well as a racecourse gallop due to a bout of coughing.


Future reeled in the outsider Ashton Park, the leader for much of the straight, and then had to repel a late burst by the Triple Crown and Sansui Summer Cup winner Louis The King to score by three quarters of a length.

Gold Onyx finished strongly to be only 1,75 lengths behind the winner in third while a tired Legislate trailed in last, 5,25 lengths behind the winner. Race sponsors Johann and Gaynor Rupert were devastated as Legislate runs in the colours of their Drakenstein Stud.

Legislate pulled up sound after the race, but pulling hard early clearly took its toll on the colt.

Fayd’Herbe was recording his fourth win in the Queen’s Plate, having partnered the great Pocket Power to three of his famous four victories in the prestigious weight for age event.

Crawford had finished second in the last two running of the Queen’s Plate with Jackson and was thrilled to get his first victory.

Saturday's win pushed Futura's record to six wins and four placings from 10 starts.

There was earlier joy for the Ruperts as their Drakenstein blue and white colours had earlier run first and third in the G1 Maine Chance Paddock Stakes won by the Mike Bass-trained Inara with the Glen Kotzen-trained Jet Belle third.

Inara gave a massive boost to the three-year-old form as the mighty Mike de Kock-trained filly Majmu had beaten her easily in the G1 Avontuur Estate Cape Fillies Guineas.

Inara, who was trying the 1,800m trip for the first time, beat Athina, winner of last season's G1 SA Fillies Classic, to provide young jockey Grant Van Niekerk with the first G1 win.

In landing the first feature of her career, Inara took her tally to two wins from seven outings.

Legislate’s trainer Justin Snaith still had a good day with four winners, two of them ridden by his stable jockey Richard Fourie including the G2 Glorious Goodwood Peninsula Handicap with Arion.

Arion was third in last year’s Investec Cape Derby but then chipped a knee and was off for seven months.

Joey Ramsden had a hat trick on the day with the highlight being Australian-bred Lonhro colt The Conglomerate winning the G3 Julius Baer Politician Stakes over 1800m under Piere Strydom.

We all know now that Legislate seems to have suffered some sort of viral infection, so that can be put forward as an excuse; the question of course is if this type of infection clears up quickly enough in order for him to be ready for the Met.

Looking at the result itself, and taking it at face value (ignoring the slow pace and hard luck stories) according to my ratings Gold Onyx ran about 5 pounds above his rating, while Kingvoldt's performance seems to strengthen the argument that the 3 yr colts are rated too high:

Futura - 113 (113 - before the race)
Louis the King - 112 (116) - probably not quite at his best and room to improve in Met
Gold Onyx - 110 (105) - excellent effort but needs to confirm ?
Jet Explorer - 109 (109)
Tellina - 109 (110)
Ashton Park - 106 (108)
Kingvoldt - 102 (113)
Paterfamilias - 103 (104)

apart from Legislate it was a very " form" results

they went a crawl

Really cannot see Legislate getting well in time for the Met. Some of them are never the same again after a viral infection.

We live in hope that some sort of trial or gallop will precede the horse taking up it's position at the next start.

Mike i have just read this part of your post again and i must take homage

`Let us be honest, there seemed to be an awful amount of negatives about the eventual winner, in fact he was much more fancied for the July and was becoming a bit like his ex stablemate Jackson`

Futura`s last 4 runs are as follow

A staying on unlucky loser in the July beaten just over 1/2 L into 3rd

A very Impressive win in the GRADE1 champions cup

A decent enough return from a 4 month lay off

A very good last to first win in the Grade 1 queens plate

Now lets talk about Jackson starting from when

He wins the Cape Derby beating Variety Club
He finishes 2nd to Variety club in the Guineas
He wins the Daily News
runs a stinker in the July
Runs a cracker in a pinnacle stakes over 1400m only 1.65 L behind Variety club
Finishes twice 2nd two races in a row to Variety Club ( a horse that went on to prove himself the best miler in the world)
Runs Flat in the MET
Runs a brilliant 4th in a Grade1 sprint
Wins the Champions Cup
Runs a brilliant 2nd in a sprint and finishes 2nd in a very good Queens Plate
Ends his carreer running dissapointing in the MET again

eish i don`t think there is a horse in the country including Legislate of Futura as go as Jackson was imo

Jackson was my favorite horse at the time. This win still gives me shivers
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One of the best looking horses, built like a steam train. Cant wait to see his babies.

Yes he was disappointing in the July and MET but as we know they are flesh and blood and that wasn't his true performance so he musnt be remembered for that. He was a champion!

Wacko jacko, hopefully his babies are'nt nutters... :sick: