Overseas offers expected for popular winner of Cape Met

The intriguing question after Kommetdieding’s popular win in Saturday’s WSB Met at Kenilworth is this — will owner Ashwin Reynolds resist the flood of overseas offers he is likely to receive for his champion?

After the colt’s win in the 2021 Durban July, a deal taking the horse to the Far East fell through at the last minute. With the son of Elusive Fort again showing he is a top-class performer, fresh offers from Hong Kong and Singapore seem likely. The latter might suit the four-year-old well as — like Kenilworth — Kranji racecourse is a left-handed track.

The word from the Harold Crawford/Michelle Rix stable on Saturday evening was that Kommetdieding would be sent to the farm to rest and no decision on his future will be made quickly.

However, Reynolds, sporting a colourful jacket more in keeping with the days of sponsors J&B, will surely reflect what more can his horse achieve? In the July and Met, he has captured arguably the two most important races in the country.

The one frustrating part of Kommetdieding’s win was his measly price R2.50 (15-10) returned on the tote.

If their marketing team of sponsors, World Sports Betting, are on the ball, they will surely pounce on this and advertise: “We laid 3-1 all week and now punters get this lowly dividend. Work it out, we’re the people to bet with.”

Drawn in pole position, Kommetdieding was given a perfect ride by Gavin Lerena and family members’ post-race celebrations resembled a Premier League match victory rather than a horse race. However, Lerena and trainer Rix deserved the moments of fame and one had to take one’s hat off to the latter who was eloquent in her post-race interview.

For a long way it looked as if the R1.25m first cheque was destined for the Vaughan Marshall stable for the fourth time courtesy of Linebacker, but Lerena got more out of his mount and had enough left to withstand the late challenge of Jet Dark.

Double Superlative, the only three-year-old in the race, finished a never-dangerous fourth and vindicated the opinion of bookmaker Lance Michael who told Business Day last week that he considered the young horse had “a mountain to climb”.

Aldo Domeyer was never able to get a handy position from a wide draw, but it was disappointing that Candice Bass-Robinson’s filly failed to make any impression in the closing stages.

Seven-year-old Do It Again, the oldest horse in the race, performed a lot better than most tipsters predicted finishing in fifth place only two lengths behind the winner.

While Marina fluffed her lines, it was a different story from a female in the Majorca Stakes with the favourite Captain’s Ransom producing a devastating finish to notch the 10th win of her career.

Though Richard Fourie did not have a ride in the Met, this performance from the Justin Snaith inmate will have made the day memorable and he continues his successful relationship with one of the best fillies to grace the turf in recent years.

If Captain Ransom’s late burst had pundits searching for fresh superlatives, the sensational last-to-first performance of Sparking Water in the New Turf Carriers Stayers had to be witnessed to be believed.

Turning for home the commentator called Mike de Kock’s filly in last place and there was an audible groan from the crowd. Then S’manga Khumalo, who had already ridden two winners, got to work on his mount and he snared Holy Warrior on the line.

Given the virus restrictions, Cape Racing put on as good a show in the circumstances though the party atmosphere of the public so prevalent during the days of sponsors J&B is still missing. More fast-food outlets are needed as racegoers need to eat.

From a dress code point of view, the meeting is a sort of mixture of the July and Queen’s Plate with many racing fans clearly not sure what was acceptable. The fact that Reynolds wore a colourful jacket may tempt people to be more daring in 2023.