Met entries.

Twenty-seven horses were entered yesterday. They are, in order of horse, age, sex, merit rating and trainer:

POCKET POWER (6G) 120 Mike Bass; DANCER'S DAUGHTER (5M) 114 Justin Snaith; BUY AND SELL (5G) 113 Sean Tarry; KAPIL (6G) 110 Stan Elley; BILL OF RIGHTS (5G) 107 Mike Bass; CATMANDU (5G) 107 Andre Kirsten; SURFIN' USA (5G) 107 Mark Dixon; FLOATYOURBOAT (6G) 104 Mike Bass; AFRICAN APPEAL (7G) 103 Mike Bass; BIG CITY LIFE (3C) 103 Glen Kotzen; GREAT RHYTHM (7G) 103 Herman Brown; THUNDERING JET (4G) 103 Mike Bass; RIVER JETEZ (5M) 102 Mike Bass; ALVARO (AUS) (4G) 101 Justin Snaith; CASEY'S SON (4G) 101 J Butterworth; AL ON THE RUN (5G) 99 B Shane Humby; GOLDEN DICE (6G) 99 Darryl Hodgson; PRINCE ASAD (5G) 99 B Geoff Woodruff; LE DRAKKAR (AUS) (3C) 98 Dean Kannemeyer; ROYAL AIR FORCE (6H) 96 Geoff Woodruff; BOUND TO TRAVEL (5G) 94 Justin Snaith; VISION OF GRANDEUR (5H) 94 B Darryl Hodgson; QUICK MILLIONS (5G) 93 B Glen Puller; WINTER WIZARD (6G) 93 Brett Crawford; SKY BLASTER (5G) 92 Mike Bass; TUNA COWBOY (5H) 91 B Basil Marcus; LITTLEREDCORVETTE (4G) 88 Glen Puller.

First supplementary entries close on Wednesday 17 December with final entries due on Monday 12 January when the weights will be announced. Final acceptances fall due on Monday 19 January and the field will be announced the following day. Public gallops will be staged on Thursday 22 January.

The first entries for the premier event of the Gold Circle’s Sizzling Summer Season, the R2,5million J&B Met (Grade 1) to be run over 2000m at Kenilworth Racecourse on Saturday 31 January 2009, were announced yesterday and, as expected, the mighty Pocket Power and the improving Dancer’s Daughter headed a list of 27 entries.



The pair are undoubtedly the two most accomplished and talked about horses in the country and a rematch at this level has been anticipated ever since they famously dead-heated to share the spoils in this year’s Vodacom Durban July.



Whilst Justin Snaith’s star filly Dancer’s Daughter continues to improve and impress, she is the challenger on this occasion as the Mike Bass-trained Pocket Power has made this race his own for the last two years.



Pocket Power progressed from being a champion to a racing legend when completing back-to-back wins in the J&B Met and the Bass-yard’s decision to go for an unheralded Met hat-trick appears to have scared off the opposition.



Noticeable absentees on the initial list of entries were that of Mike de Kock and Charles Laird but there are two more rounds of nominations to follow and it will be interesting to see if either of the two biggest yards in the country decide to supplement runners at a later stage.



The Bass yard have seven entries in total and they include dual Grade 3 winners Bill Of Rights, recent acquisition and Matchem Stakes (Gr 3) winner Thundering Jet, Pocket Power’s full sister River Jetez and the seven-year-old journeyman African Appeal.



Snaith has also nominated his improving four-year-old Australian import Alvaro and recent acquisition Bound To Travel.



Sean Tarry has entered Buy And Sell for another crack at toppling Pocket Power from his Met throne. Buy And Sell finished fourth in last season’s J&B Met and the Gauteng-based trainer will be hoping that his top class five-year-old can emulate his brave Champions Cup (Gr 1) performance when holding out to beat home both Pocket Power and Dancer’s Daughter.



Geoff Woodruff has two entries at this early stage, Prince Asad who finished fourth in the Steinhof Summer Cup (Gr 1) recently and the lightly raced six-year-old giant, Royal Air Force.



The last three-year-old to win the J&B Met was Badger’s Coast in 2000 and, not surprisingly, there are only two entries from the younger generation. Topping this shortlist is Dean Kannemeyer’s recent Selangor Cup winner, Australian-import Le Drakkar. The other youngster entered is Glen Kotzen’s Big City Life who ran a respectable second to Pocket Power at weight-for-age terms in the Green Point Stakes earlier this month.



ends



Gill Simpkins

What happened,no De Kock or Ramsden nominations ,surely they must have something for a group 1?

Looks a bit like a PP / DD benefit race if you compare with the Vodacom July line up. No offence.

Royal Air Force might be a nice outsider to put in a serious challenge. Buy and Sell also a small chance. Tuna Cowboy did finish 0.25 behind Desert Links once and cannot be written off completely as he is a consistant performer. We know how well Links ran on in the July (unlucky 5th and under a couple of lengths behind the winners).

As far as I can recall on the Met weights do not play too much of a role as the race is set to see the best hors win.

Match race...everyone else running for 3rd place....Links probably running 15th Jan so lets see how he goes in Dubai.

All the best - How is Peg doing. I notice that he did not run in England as planned. Probably a good thing IMO. Those tracks undulate way to much for my liking.

Are your tickets booked yet?

No De Kock = July focus = Rudra massive runner!!!!!

Royal Air Force no chance

Met seems a little hollow without Rudra and Smart Banker to me.

We'll have to hope that Big City Life and Le Drakkar progress on and then give it a crack to add some spice. From having no record at all, 3yo's now have a decent track record if they try, and the drift towards wfa conditions should encourage more takers as time goes on.

Those two are giving it a miss because they cant win the way the weights are structured. Even if they did come it would remain a PP v DD match, but the odds would have been better!

Personally i think back at his favourite course PP will win comfortably.

Hi fella's , new to the site but it looks good.

Jack Dash are you trying to bait peolple with " met seems hollow without Rudra and smart banker" now thats laughable if you aren't

P.P = S.A racing legend and D.D will be world famous come this time next year.

Smart Banker and Rudra ummmm not sure how horses whos trainers think they can't compete will add any substance.

Not at all.

I would rather see Rudra (13 runs) and Smart Banker who has run 10 times take up a starting gate than Littleredcorvette who has run 12 times and won a Graduation in his penultimate.

As much as the rest seem outgunned by PP and DD, there is no question that there's a lack even potential from the balance of the 4 & 5yo's nominated against them.

It's not at all laughable that they're not coming, it's a pity as they at least have scope to challenge. Perhaps we've not seen the best of either of Rudra or SB and it's a shame they're not bothering. They would certainly be in the betting.