By Ada van der Bent
There is no denying that the Gr1 Cape Town Met is the undoubted jewel in the crown of racing at Kenilworth. It is an iconic event, a gathering of majestic thoroughbreds and the beautiful people who flock to Cape Town’s premier racetrack in their thousands to be part of the ultimate social occasion.
This year marks the 163rd running of the showpiece race, which had been in existence for several years when in 1886, racing moved from Green Point Common to its present home at Kenilworth. Distances varied, initially it was contested over a mile, then 1800m, but since 1948, it has always been run over 2000m. Needless to say, since its inception, this time-honoured race has been won by many of the titans of the South African turf.
Those who reigned supreme during the sixties included Jerez, Speciality, Renounce, William Penn and Peter Beware.
Still regarded by many as ‘The golden age of legends’, the seventies saw no less than five KZN-based champions make the Met their own, starting with Yataghan in 1974. New Zealand-bred Sledgehammer ran out a facile winner in 1975, Gatecrasher took the race in style twelve months later, while Bahadur continued the stranglehold in 1977. Rounding out the quintet was one of the most famous of Met winners, the mighty Politician.
After striding to a majestic victory in 1978, the big chestnut returned twelve months later and put up one of the most incredulous performances in Met history, one that will long be remembered. Drawn 16 out of 19, he looked a beaten horse 200m out, but unleashed an electric turn of foot and made up two lengths to nab the gallant filly Festive Season on the line.
The eighties featured two Met winners who would go on to exert their influence at stud in a big way. English import Foveros, a fluent winner in 1982, left an indelible mark as a stallion, leading the General Sires list nine times, eight of which consecutively. Model Man won the Met in 1987, the same year he clinched the Horse of the Year title. He too, enjoyed a fruitful stallion career and became a particularly fine broodmare sire.
As far as thrills go, Politician’s epic performance was matched two decades later by another legendary chestnut, the Oppenheimer-bred and raced Horse Chestnut. In contrast to Politician’s heart-stopping second win, he turned the 1999 Met into a procession and streaked away from his rivals to score by eight lengths, a margin which to this day, has yet to be matched or bettered.
Remarkably, the Met has yet to deliver a deadheat. In recent times, the narrowest of winners have been Bunter Barlow, who scraped home by a shorthead in 2005, as did Imperious Sue in 1998 and Pas De Quoi six years later.
The record of most wins is held by yet another powerhouse, the legendary Pocket Power, who completed a three-win streak in 2009. The 2019 and 2021 winner Rainbow Bridge came close to matching that feat, but for a longhead defeat in 2020.
As for Pocket Power, he ran out a sparkling winner first time round at age four, matched Politician’s double twelve months later and in 2009, rolled into the history books as the first and only horse in history to capture three consecutive renewals of the Met, when he held Dancer’s Daughter by a hard-fought neck.
Pocket Power’s attempt at a fourth win was thwarted a year later by none other than his year-younger sister River Jetez. Remarkably, they are the only full siblings to have won the Met, although Badger’s Coast triumphed in 2000, five years after half-brother Surfing Home claimed the honours.
River Jetez is one of only eight female Met winners, all of which were champions in their own right.
The first was the remarkable mare Renounce, a two-length winner in 1966. It would be another 25 years before champion filly Olympic Duel crossed the line first in 1991. Six females have lifted the trophy since: Empress Club (1993), Imperious Sue (1998), River Jetez (2010), Igugu (2012), Smart Call (2016) and Oh Susanna (2018). All exceptional winners, given that Empress Club, Igugu and Oh Susanna earned Horse of the Year honours.
As far as trainers go, the modern-day record belongs to the late maestro Terrance Millard, who raised the trophy on no less than six occasions, the last time with Olympic Duel.
In recent years, the most successful trainer has been champion Justin Snaith with three winners. He broke through in 2018 when the filly Oh Susannah downed an elite field as the only three-year-old in the line-up. She was followed in 2023 by Jet Dark, who went one better than his second in 2022, while Double Superlative made it back-to-back wins for the stable in 2024.
