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Live J&B Met Day TV Coverage

Saturday - 31 January 2009





South Africa’s hottest Sizzling Summer Season racing, fashion and entertainment extravaganza, the R2,5-million, Grade 1 J&B Met can be viewed on SABC 3 live and uninterrupted from Kenilworth Racecourse from 15:00 to 17:00 on Saturday, January 31

The Manager of the Western Cape’s Racecourses and Training Centres, Dean Diedericks, will have Kenilworth Racecourse in tip-top shape for this year’s J&B Met which will take place on Saturday, 31 January 2009.



The track is being watered everyday by Kenilworth Racecourse Manager Jerome Diederichs and his team to keep the penetrometer reading above 20.



Cape Town has a Mediterranean climate meaning the summers are dry.



However, the winters are very wet and Kenilworth itself had an unusually high 1750mm of rain last winter.



“That set us back but there weren’t any issues,” said Dean Diedericks.



He said that the preparation for J&B Met day is the same as for any normal racemeeting but they do go to special lengths to make the course look good.



A foliar iron mix will be applied to bring the colour back to the grass.



The grass will be mowed down to a length of 80mm and the false rail will be set to 5 to 6m.



The weather forecast for the day has the temperature at 24 degrees with a South Easterly wind of 28km per hour, which Diedericks described as a medium strength wind.



The South will have a headwind affect on the horses.



Diedericks added that the penetrometer readings for racing this summer at Kenilworth had been 2mm to 4mm softer than last year, very safe going for the horses.



Dean’s fancy for the race? He would like to see Pocket Power victorious because of the huge historical value if he wins for the third time.



Mike Greef is looking forward to his first J&B Met as the Racing Executive of Gold Circle in the Western Cape.



“The day will be a hub of excitement and we are looking forward to a crowd of about 40 000.”



Mike sees Catmandu as a possible winner based on a whole series of coincidences that happened before and at the final field announcement which saw Catmandu’s name come up repeatedly.



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Gill Simpkins

I think that DD although she got beat in the Paddock this year..she ran a better race than she did last year..therefore in my book she is gonna win the Met. Obviously I could be way wrong but I also think shes improving better than PP and it wouldnt surprise me if PP doesnt run up to his best on Sat. Hes gonna need a lot of luck..My pick DD from Surf H.

Joey Ramsden is confident that Ivory Trail will run a place in the R2,5 million J&B Met on Saturday.



“I’m actually very big on him,” said Ramsden. “He looks a million dollars, he had an excellent prep and is improving at the right time. The draw is the only concern.”



Ivory Trail completed a hat-trick when winning the Grade 2 Peninsula Handicap over 1800m at Kenilworth Racecourse by a comfortable 2,25 lengths on January 6.



He is drawn 16 and Richard Fourie will ride him.



Ramsden said that not much needed to be done with Ivory Trail from now until the race

The Stan Elley-trained J&B Met entry, Kapil, had a gallop at Kenilworth Racecourse before the races on Saturday and his trainer said that he was happy with the six-year-old Jallad gelding, who was a fast finishing 1,5 length third to Pocket Power in the L’Ormarins Queens Plate.



“He is virtually ready for the race,” he said.



Elley was forthright on the issue of his stamina, “Kapil does not stay 2000m,” he said. “His best trip is a mile but milers have won the Met before. Maybe we can get lucky and hopefully they don’t go too quick.”



He also confirmed that Kapil was not a sound horse.



“But it is manageable and he will be fine on the day,” he reassured.



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Gill Simpkins

Dancer’s Daughter did pacework over 800m on the heavy sand at Phillipi training centre on Tuesday in her final serious workout before the R2,5million J&B Met on Saturday.



Bernard Fayd’herbe knows her well and was there to ride her despite being aboard her chief rival, Pocket Power, on Saturday.

Fayd’herbe reported to trainer Justin Snaith that she “felt very good”.



Snaith said that she was now “spot on”.



He said the yard had worked her harder than any other horse going into Met day.



“She needed to do that work and she has finally lost the weight she was carrying. When I see how fit she is now and how much work she can take I now realise that she was only half-fit for her run in the Paddock Stakes.”



He continued, ‘It has been a very frustrating season as I haven’t been able to race her often enough and in the races I wanted to. I would have liked to have run her in the Queens Plate, Paddock Stakes and Met. But now if she doesn’t win the Met she will have come out from the summer having won a conditions race and a Listed race. For Dancer’s Daughter that’s criminal. I am almost thinking of not going overseas with her as I haven’t proved enough with her here. But I will run her again after the Met.”







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Gill Simpkins

Nice to now hear that Dancer's Daughter was half fit when 1/4 favourite for the Paddock Stakes!

Herman Brown Senior is in Cape Town for the build up to the J&B Met and has been flying in regularly over the summer to monitor the progress of his son’s big race contender, Great Rhythm.

Brown has found it impossible in his retirement to separate himself from the game he loves and is at the Summerveld yard of his son, Herman, early every morning.

With Herman Junior away in Dubai and assistant Frank Robinson in charge of the KZN operation, he has helped out with the Met preparation of Great Rhythm, who is being cared for by Paul Lafferty’s assistant, Byron Voster, at Milnerton.

One of racing’s great characters, Brown was regarded as one of the top trainers in an era that included the likes of Syd Laird, Joe Joseph, George Azzie, Ralph Rixon, Terrance Millard, Fred Rickaby and many others and his fondest memory of the J&B Met would no doubt be the win of his great chestnut, Gatecrasher, who annihilated Sledgehammer in 1976.

When Brown speaks, racing people listen, and he said of Great Rhythm and of the race itself.

“I’m happy with Great Rhythm. He had a very good gallop last week on the cinders track at Milnerton and his colour is looking very good. He is very well in himself. I would have liked two or three more weeks with him, but I still think he will run a decent race. He is drawn well and has a good jockey (Robbie Hill) aboard. We’ve done our work now it is up to the horse.”

Brown said that there would only be one chance of any horse other than Pocket Power or Dancer’s Daughter winning, “They have had tough campaigns both in Durban and over the Cape Summer. The only chance of beating then would be if those campaigns have got to them.”

Brown will be at the J&B Met on Saturday in his trademark trilby hat and it would certainly roll back the years if Great Rhythm went a couple of places better than in 2006, when finishing third.

The Mark Dixon-trained Surfin’ USA, who is one of two Kwazulu-Natal raiders running in the R2,5million J&B Met on Saturday, worked “exceptionally well” when sent for a gallop at Kenilworth last week.

The five-year-old Modern Day gelding had his final serious workout for the big race at Milnerton on Monday over 800m on the sand with MJ Byleveld aboard.

“I think he has a massive chance,” said Dixon, before adding that he was being realistic about whom he faces.

“Pocket Power is the best horse in the race, but Surfin’ USA has beaten Dancer’s Daughter before,” he said.

Surfin’ USA’s victory over Dancer’s Daughter came in the Grade I Champion’s Cup at Clairwood over 1800m, in which he finished a 0,6 lengths third to Buy And Sell with Pocket Power a head in front of him and Dancer’s Daughter 0,75 lengths behind him.

He now faces Buy And Sell on 0,5kg better terms but is 3kg worse off with Pocket Power and 4kg worse off with Dancer’s Daughter.

However Surfin’ USA is one who runs very well fresh, as he proved when mowing the field down from way back when winning the Grade II Midmar Premier Trophy over 1800m at Kenilworth on December 14.

The horse he finished a head clear of in that race, Vision Of Grandeur, will be one kg better off than him in the Met, but Dixon said, “He is a different horse now. He has never been better and I think he has an outstanding chance of finishing in the first three.”

Dixon hasn’t raced Surfin’ USA since the Premier Trophy, and unlike most of the other runners who ran three weeks ago, has been able to build him up steadily for the big race.

Of the pace, Dixon said, “He has the best judge of pace, Piere Strydom, aboard and is also versatile in his running style. He can race handy, like he did in the Champions Cup, and we all saw how well he finished from the back of the field in the Premier.”

The long-striding bay has never gone over 2000m before, but did finish a length second in the Michaelmas over 1900m at Greyville when carrying a huge weight and being sent to the front probably too soon.

“I’ve always thought a mile-and-a-quarter (2000m) would be his best trip,” said Dixon. ‘I am not at all concerned about the distance.”

Surfin’ USA is drawn eleven and the Summerveld trainer concluded, “I was hoping for a draw between seven and ten so can’t complain

Geoff Woodruff, a five-times Champion trainer, has two runners on J&B Met day, Met hopeful Prince Asad and Fancourt Majorca Stakes favourite, Emblem Of Liberty.



Prince Asad put up a career best effort when romping home by nearly five lengths to win last year’s J&B Reserve Stayers over 2800m at this same meeting and Woodruff said, “I have been heavily criticised in some quarters for running in the Met instead of the Reserve Stayers. But we’ve got that T-shirt and if you have a horse that qualifies for the Vodacom Durban July or J&B Met, then you run them. It’s as simple as that. People are also judging Prince Asad on last year’s form, when we were off form. But his real form is what he’s done since being healthy again and that is, seventh in the Gold Cup, second in a feature race on the sand, a win over 1800m in a Pinnacle Plate and fourth in the Summer Cup. In the Summer Cup Johnny Geroudis said that he felt he’d gone too soon too. He is a versatile horse who has won from 1000m up to 2800m.”



Prince Asad travelled from the Vaal earlier this week and arrived at the Milnerton yard of Harold Crawford on Tuesday.



Woodruff said that he had travelled well.



“If you take the top two or three horses out of the race, there are question marks over many of the other horses,” he said. “So I think he has a place chance.”



Woodruff said that Pocket Power was the one to beat, “He’s proved himself a true champion and I can’t see anything beating him. Dancer’s Daughter is being talked up again, but I think Pocket Power is the better horse. The race comes only three weeks after the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate but Mike Bass is a professional trainer and there is no doubt he will have his horse ready on the day.”



Woodruff said of Emblem of Liberty, “My assistant, David Rahilly, has been taking care of her and has reported that she weighs the same as when winning the Paddock Stakes and her blood count is also very good. On her Paddock Stakes run, I would say that she is the one to beat. Dancer’s Daughter might have fluffed her lines but she still beat River Jetez, who had every chance. She now comes back to the mile which will be more suitable for her. Nobody gave us a chance in the Paddock and she is proof of us being off-form last year. In her last three she’s won the Listed Renounce Stakes over 1450m, the Grade II Ipi Tombe Stakes over 1600m and the Grade I TBA Paddock Stakes over 1800m. She is a very good filly. I think the dangers would come from the higher rated three-year-olds. We won this race in 2003 with a three-year-old, Paraca, who beat a more fancied stable companion of ours, the four-year-old Raining Roses. The 5kgs the three-year-olds receive might give them a slight advantage at this time of the year, but the weight-for-age scale is there for a reason and if we win we’ll say, no they didn’t have an advantage.”

James Butterworth said from Philippi training centre yesterday that a line could be drawn through the last run of his J&B Met contender, Casey’s Son.



“He galloped at Kenilworth last Tuesday and put up very good work,” he said. “He is a different horse since that last run and is now in top shape.”



Casey’s Son’s form would suggest he might prefer further than the 2000m of the J&B Met, having won twice in two attempts at 2400m.



Butterworth said, “He has also won over 1600m, so the distance is not of concern to me. But, it would suit us if they go at a strong clip and such a scenario would take quite a few horses out of the equation. Obviously, at the conditions of the race that favour the top horses like Pocket Power and Dancer’s Daughter, I would be over the moon with a place cheque.”



Butterworth has only been in charge of Casey’s Son, formerly trained by Justin Snaith, for two runs, a sprint over 1000m and for the Grade II Midmar Premier Stakes over 1800m at Kenilworth.



In the latter start he finished 8,45 lengths behind Surfin’ USA, whom he now faces on 1kg better terms.



He will know the horse better now and will be looking forward to having a runner in the big race.



“I think there will be more horses behind him than in front of him,” he concluded

Dancer's Daughter workout pleases trainer


BRITISH-BRED Dancer’s Daughter, the main threat to Pocket Power’s history-making bid in Saturday’s J & B Met, pleased trainer Justin Snaith when completing her preparation with a fast workout over four furlongs in heavy sand.

Snaith said on Wednesday: “She is now spot on but she needed to do that work - she has finally lost the weight she was carrying.

“When I see how fit she is now, and how much work she can take, I realise that she was only half fit for her run in the Paddock Stakes [when she was beaten at 1-4].

“It has been a very frustrating season as I haven’t been able to race her often enough and in the races I wanted to. I would like to have run her in the Queen’s Plate as well as the Paddock Stakes and the Met.

“If she doesn’t win the Met, she will have come out from the summer having won only a conditions race and a Listed race. For Dancer’s Daughter that would be criminal.

“I am almost thinking of not going overseas with her as I haven’t proved enough with her, and I will run her here again after the Met.”

Snaith’s long-term overseas target is the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf and he has not ruled out running her in Britain en route.

Pocket Power, bidding to win the Met for an unprecedented third time, is 4-5 with local bookmakers, who also bet 7-2 Dancer’s Daughter, 12 Buy And Sell, River Jetez, Surfin’ USA, 14 Kapil, 25 bar.