The Met 2018

To be run at Weight for Age
Why the change and who decides?
The previous system was not great and definitely affects the betting turnover
but I think WFA will kill the turnover
Any opinions?

Every purist wants to watch the best horse, weight for age, win but most punters want an opportunity to beat the favourite or best horse in the race. Because of the timing of the Met it is not very often that you will have a 3yr old that can win it so where else will punters find a "value" bet?

Agree Elmer

While there is a valid argument for both the Met & July to be run at WFA I do not believe it is what the punting public want to see in South Africa. These conditions are far more conducive to racing jurisdictions where Owners/Breeders are trying to prove Stallions & future Stallions. Maybe that is exactly what some of the big owners in CPT want.

The fields will be vastly reduced going forward....

Gr1 = WFA and July (for now). Gr2 and Lower = WFA + penalties, handicaps.


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Met launch tonight I think

Did the Snaiths not have a few groans about the July being a Handicap ?

My opinion is in favour of the Met being run at. WFA . I probably would have preferred a big 2000m WFA G1 at the end of the season ala the old Champion Stakes which was actually run in August .Either that or one run under those conditions in the Gauteng season which may induce Cape /KZN connections to actually make an effort to raid .

However, either way, it will hopefully do away with the deliberate avoidance of picking up penalties going into the Cape season , to try get an advantage going into the Met. The spin off may also result in more competitive " minor" features, as picking up penalties will be less of a factor.
A definite encouragement to the top horses and being run at a track capable of giving a fair run to a big field,should allow the cream to rise.

As far as i can recall and my memory is fading the only penalty a horse carried into the met was if the horse had won a group one in the last 18 months he would carry an extra 2kg so there was absolutely no need to drag up horses going into the met ..there were other conditions but you couldnt duck and dive those

its a good move if you trying to attract international runners and i see that there is a weight allowance for horses born northern hemisphere time ..

Great move, I am always in favour of WFA for the big Grade 1 races. I wish the July would follow suit as I hate seeing the best horses opt not to run as they are giving too much weight away.

Think they just announced Usain Bolt is coming to the Met

great move! I've always wondered why it was bastardized anyway. All Gr1s should be pure WFA races imo

At WFA the cream generally rises to the top