Cape Town Met (Grade 1)

HKJC World Pool Cape Flying Championship (Grade 1)

Maine Chance Farms Majorca Stakes (Grade 1)

THE late Lancaster Bomber’s soaring South African reputation reached new heights at Kenilworth last Saturday when the former Aidan O’Brien-trained horse was responsible for two of the three Grade 1 races including the Cape Town Met.

The son of War Front was placed in a string of Group 1 events, including the Breeders’ Cup Mile, before finally cracking it at the top level in the 2018 Tattersalls Gold Cup. He stood at the National Stud in Newmarket before being sold to Gaynor Rupert’s Drakenstein Stud where he died of a heart attack in July 2021.

His son Eight On Eighteen, bred by Drakenstein, was the only three-year-old in the Met field yet he started 18/10 favourite.

He seemed to have plenty to do in the straight but he responded well to champion Richard Fourie’s urgings and got there 40m out to beat Oriental Charm by a half a length.

Owned by Nic Jonsson and Mrs Rupert’s husband Johann, Eight On Eighteen was the third consecutive Met winner (and the fourth in all) trained by Justin Snaith and the third in a row in which Jonsson has had a major share.

Incredible horse

Snaith, who won six of the 12 races on the marathon card, praised the Met winner’s temperament, saying: “He is an incredible horse. There was a bit of a hoo-ha going on (immediately after the previous race) and a number of my horses were sweating and starting to fall apart but he wasn’t even fazed. I said to him: ‘Wake up – this is a big occasion.’ He just looked at me! He wasn’t worried about anything.”

Lancaster Bomber’s other Grade 1 success came in the Maine Chance Farms Majorca Stakes over a mile where the Gavin Lerena-ridden Rascova thwarted the Snaith runner Double Grand Slam by a short-head.

The winner was bred by the celebrated Cheveley Stud and trainer Glen Kotzen had special reason to celebrate as he explained: “The yard hasn’t been right for the last six or seven weeks and this filly is a tiny little whippet of a thing. But she has a big heart and she can really turn it on.”

Gimme A Prince, winner of the HJKC World Pool Cape Flying Championship as a four-year-old two years ago, repeated the performance in some style and romped home virtually six lengths clear.

Khaya Stables’ son of Gimmethegreenlight was ridden with understandable confidence by Craig Zackey who said: “My mate Keagan de Melo (now in Hong Kong) always said that this is not just the best sprinter in the country. He could be one of the best in the world.”

Trainer Dean Kannemeyer added: “I have always thought the world of this horse but he has had a lot of issues throughout his career and he has hardly raced.”

THE traditional Cape Town January Yearling Sale has been split into two and the first leg produced a healthy average of R626,419 (€31,947) for 86 lots sold with the top lot (Drakenstein’s Vercingetorix half-brother to two winners) making R2.2 million (€112,200). The second leg, the Cape Premier Sale, will be staged on March 14th and 15th.