A Double Superlative for Snaith

Jack Milner

Ask the racing public who they predicted the sire of the winning horse in Saturday’s Grade 1 World Sports Betting Cape Town Met would be, the vast majority would have said Twice Over.

That is because 4-10 favourite See It Again is by that sire. The fans would have been right, but not with the horse who would cross the line first.

Double Superlative, who went off at 33-1, regained his three-year-old form to cause a massive upset in the R2-million event over 2000m at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on Saturday.

Trained by Justin Snaith and ridden by Daniel Muscutt, the five-year-old son of Twice Over made his charge down the outside of the track to collar Rascallion (25-2) and Bernard Fayd'Herbe by 0.40 lengths.

Third place went to 50-1 Without Question while 9-20 favourite See It Again could only manage fourth, beaten 3.15 lengths.

The race proved a triumph for both trainer Snaith who trained the first and third home, and especially Nic Jonsson who owned three of the first four past the post, all of which raced in his colours.    

However, for trainer Michael Roberts and jockey Piere Strydom the race proved quite a disappointment as See It Again never looked like winning and was always chasing.

Strydom could not hide his disappointment yesterday but admitted this was the second successive flat run from See It Again.

“I was a bit concerned after the King’s Plate. I was perfectly placed but then he couldn’t accelerate. The same thing happened on Saturday, when I asked for an effort, there was nothing there.

“I wanted to be a bit handier but then one has to acknowledge that the winner came from behind me and kicked on to win,” said Strydom.

However, Muscutt rode the perfect race as did Bernard Fayd’Herbe on second-placed Rascallion. Fayd’Herbe sensed the pace was too slow, so he took his mount around the field and went around four lengths clear of his opposition. It almost paid off, but Muscutt followed See It Again through and then switched out and got up to win by 0.40 lengths.

Rachel Venniker would have been delighted to have brought Without Question into third place in this Grade 1 feature and was beaten just 1.65 lengths.

Snaith and his team deserve full credit for the performance of Double Superlative who looked like his racing career might be over when he was sidelined owing to a tendon injury for 16 months. He only returned in September last year and to come out with in just four months to pull off a success of this level is an exceptional training feat.

It was also good to see last season’s Horse Of The Year, Princess Calla, find her best form to win the City Of Cape Town Majorca Stakes over 1600m.

This time the pace was on from the start and Richard Fourie was able to race her from well off the pace as Rascova made the early running.

Once in the straight he was able to bring her down the outside of the track and she had the race wrapped up a long way from home. Rascova stayed on for second with Double Grand Slam in third.

There was disappointment for fans of Isivunguvungu in the Grade 1 World Pool Cape Flying Championship over 1000m when he hit the starting gate during loading and had to be withdrawn at the start.

That left Thunderstruck as the favourite who looked as if he would do a good turn to all those exotic bet tickets placed on Isvunguvungu and win the race. But he was caught close home by Dyce, who put a disappointing last start behind him to pick up his first Grade 1 victory.

The son of William Longsword has now won seven of his 14 races and placed in another six. He is owned by Dave Shawe and trained by Lucky Houdalakis.