L'Ormarins Queen's Plate: Betting suggests wide open race

Hollywoodbets have a variety of betting variations on the big day, including See It Again to run second (currently 22-10) in the headliner. There's no shame in running second, yet to be brutally honest, in racing, as in most sport disciplines, who remembers the losers? Be that as it may, the list of Met seconds over the past quarter of a century or…

The latter, South Africa's Champion Sire of 2015-2016, had enjoyed a tremendous year in 2023, with his sons Charles Dickens, Jet Dark, Trip Of Fortune and Winchester Mansion claiming the Gr1 Hollywoodbets Gold Challenge, Gr1 WSB Cape Town Met, Gr1 H F Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut Stakes and Hollywoodbets Gr1 Durban July, respectively. The brilliant…

A final field of 20, including two reserve runners, will be announced on Tuesday 20 June, and despite the local horse population under pressure, the 2023 entry of 60 is in line with the past five years which saw 69 entries in 2018, 49 in 2019, 52 in 2020, 53 in 2021 and 58 last year. South Africa's leading betting operator Hollywoodbets will…

The second leg of South Africa's triple crown takes place on Saturday, as a classy field gathers at Kenilworth for the Cape Town Met. Jet Dark and Kommetdieding return after solid runs in the King's Plate, but it's a Brett Crawford filly who currently tops the market. Here's a look through the current Cape Town Met betting and a rundown of the most…

A bare two months ago if you'd said a three-year-old filly called Make It Snappy would start Cape Town Met week as the bookmakers' favourite for the big race you'd have been considered a raving idiot. Yet here we are. Met sponsor World Sports Betting has the Brett Crawford-trained youngster at the top of its boards at odds of 15-4 - having…

It may be more than a coincidence that both these crack 3yo's chose to challenge themselves in open company, before taking on the best of their own year. Tony Mincione writes that anyone wondering if Brett Crawford's young filly, the rated 85, was being over-faced in the Summer Bowl (a stepped handicap for Fillies and Mares which capped horses 110…

Al Muthana caused a massive boil over at 80/1 when dashing along the outside rail to mug heavy odds-on favourite Charles Dickens on the line and take out the R2 million Grade 1 L'Ormarins King's Plate over 1600m on Saturday. This was a great personal triumph for trainer Ricky Maingard who won this race decades ago with grey champion, Wolf…

Charles Dickens has been installed as an overwhelming favourite for the L'Ormarins King's Plate at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on Saturday, 7 January. Charles Dickens, trained by Candice Bass-Robinson and to be ridden by Aldo Domeyer, lived up to his superstar billing when he obliterated a high quality field in the Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas for…

The Breeders' Cup Challenge series heads to Kenilworth racecourse in Cape Town, South Africa on Saturday with two qualifying races - one of which has a new name. With the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the former Queen's Plate is reverting to its previous name of the King's Plate (G1). Its winner will have automatic entry to the Breeders' Cup Mile…

To many racegoers, this iconic race has always been known as the Queen's Plate, for the simple reason that we have known no British monarch other than the recently passed Queen Elizabeth II, a great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria, in whose honour the mile race was first contested way back in 1861. Not surprisingly, the recent name change to the…

It's a question Kommetdieding fans never dreamt would be asked. Is the "People's Horse" going to end his career as the "Bookies Horse?" Make no mistake - punters lost thousands of rand on the 2020 Durban July winner when he was beaten in last Saturday's Green Point Stakes at Kenilworth. After the withdrawal of Jet Dark, Kommetdieding was generally…

Saturday is a big day for the Lerena family. Boxer Kevin Lerena takes on WBA heavyweight champ Daniel Dubois at Tottenham Hotspur stadium in London and cousin Gavin will be hoping Kommetdieding can knock out his rivals in the WSB Green Point Stakes at Kenilworth. If bookies have their sums right, the chance of a SA win in the UK is minimal. Dubois…

It will be a day of redemption on 31 July. The traditional grand finale of the South African racing season, the Gold Cup fixture at Greyville in Durban, offers chances to a number of horses to right wrongs, gain revenge and set the record straight. Or not - they can't all win! The Champions Cup, in particular, will have all contestants striving…

It's a big weekend for international racing, but for one major racing country it's their biggest of the year. Saturday sees the staging of the Durban July Handicap, the richest race in South Africa. The 2200-meter (about 1 3/8-mile) contest at Greyville Racecourse in Durban is South Africa's equivalent of the Kentucky Derby, Grand National, Prix de…

The odds have changed for South Africa's richest graded stakes race, the R5 million Grade 1 Hollywoodbets Durban July, after Thursday's official gallops which were attended by a reported 1500 spectators. The 126th renewal will be run at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Saturday, 2 July has attracted a high quality field of 18 runners. The line up…

South Africa's richest graded stakes race, the R5 million Grade 1 Hollywoodbets Durban July, has attracted a high quality field of 18 runners. The 126th renewal will be run at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Saturday, 2 July. The final field announcement and all-important barrier gate draw took place at a function hosted by Hollywoodbets on Tuesday. The…

The return clash of Hollywoodbets Durban July 2021 top two, Kommetdieding and Linebacker, is just one of the many exciting sub-plots in what looks to be a vintage renewal of what is the most sought-after racing prize in South African racing. Former SA champion Gavin Lerena will again be aboard Kommetdieding, while Cape Town's favourite son Grant…

The first edition of the LONGINES World's Best Racehorse Rankings for 2022 is led by Life Is Good [124], who won the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes presented by 1/ST BET (G1) to begin his season. In the Pegasus, Life Is Good made all en route to posting a 3 ¼-length victory over Knicks Go [117], who was the 2021 Longines World's Best…

Kommetdieding fought on to land a famous victory in the Grade 1 World Sports Betting Cape Town Met over 2000m at Kenilworth racecourse on Saturday, beating off the late rally of Jet Dark and outstaying the persistent threat of Linebacker. The winner is a son of Elusive Fort, out of the Captain Al mare Adorable, and was bred at Klawervlei Stud. His…

The Western Cape's flagship horseracing event, the Cape Town Met presented by World Sports Betting, will take place on Saturday, 29 January at Kenilworth racecourse over 2000m. It will be the 160th running of the prestigious weight for age race with a prize fund of R2 million on offer. A field of 11 runners will take to the stalls, headed by…

The final field for the 2022 R2 million Grade 1 Cape Town Met presented by World Sports Betting was unveiled at Kenilworth racecourse on Wednesday evening. A field of 11 runners will line up in the Cape flagship event on Saturday, 29 January, headed by the'people's horse' and 2021 Durban July winner Kommetdieding, who will bid to become the first…

Messrs. C.T. Crowe & N. Jonsson's 4-year-old defending champion Jet Dark (SAF) is slated to face 10 rivals entered for Saturday's 1-mile R1.5 million L'Ormarins Queen's Plate (G1) at Kenilworth Racecourse in Cape Town. The race winner will earn an automatic berth into the US$2 million FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile (G1) through the Breeders' Cup…