Met Betting 2009- World of Sport

If its a tired discussion ,not argument ,then why bring it up?All i am saying is dont blame the cape for rest of the country not coming to the Met to compete....they have chosen to compete elsewhere.

Got to admit that the power has somewhat shifted to Cape horses,as witnessed in last season's winter season..

It's hard to understand how Cape manages to stay so strong. The big trainers & jockeys, the buying power and the stakes and the training facilities are all elsewhere, but they seem to hang in there anyway.

I can understand not traveling to Jhb, for some reason very good horses try and often fail, but would beat those same horses at the coast. It hasn't always been like that, but it's a big risk for a proven horse who does have alternatives.

Horses like Aquanaut (Gold Bowl twice and 4th) and Free My Heart (Horse Chestnut St 1st and 5th 2002/3) could win at the highest level. Eyeofthetiger and Desert Links both crashed in Jhb, Eyeofthetiger may have been near his end but that trip finished him properly.

Don't have the vaguest theory why doesn't happen anymore...maybe just easier and cheaper to go to Durbs is the truth.


(Something Else made the trip as a Durban horse to be fair, and won a sprint)

Someone must have a decent theory?

Prob altitude?

The altitude couldn't have changed that much in the past 10 years

I hear you Adios, but it can't just be the buying power....

while CT do buy some expensive horses, they include owners like Beck (National Colours,Overarching) , Kantor, Fieldspring, Rattray (Yard Arm-Woody) etc who have huge amounts of money in properties and stallions etc. It often forces their hands in terms of ownership, and they also seem to have to support those who buy from them.

De Kock, C Laird, Woodruff have all been supported by the same people, and Oppenheimer (Fort Woods), Jooste (National Emblem), Jaffee (London News, Empress Club) and the like had their investments mainly in Gauteng.

There must be some powerful owners in Gauteng who have very big investments who I don't know because of unfamiliarity. A name like Chris Van Niekerk comes to mind.

I think the edge CT may have is in the leverage of sales like Equimark and the Cape Sale. Relatively(!) cheap horses can emerge from those sales, like Pocket Power (180), Sun Classique (100?) and Jay Peg (140?).

Of the big players it has only been Fieldspring (must qualify as 'poms' I suppose) who was based in Cape Town, and even they had with David Ferraris and now Roberts. Plattner too has a yard in KZN so is hardly CT.

Final thought, by strong CT are we really just thinking about Jay Peg, Sun Class, DD & PP. Maybe it's just luck and our turn in the sun How quickly we forget JJ, Mythical, National Colour. Argonaut, Golden Loom, Grey's Inn, Elusive Fort to name but a few.

Who raised a white flag?I assure you that you also couldnt upset me.....send the JHB horses down,we want them to come and race here.

Come on guys - racing DOES go through regional cycles although I have been wondering for a number of years when KZN is going to improve!

Although Cape Town may not be the epicentre of RSA wealth generation it does happen to be the area where many of the wealthy aspire to be eventually. ( No I'm not promoting it - just stating a fact. Take look at property prices on the Atlantic Seaboard. An apartment in the Waterfront can set you back nearly 50 million!!! ).

Now throw in the UK factor with their great love of the thoroughbred and you have immense buying power.We're just lucky nobody has yet taken a REAL fancy to SA - UK owners capable of spitting out 250,000+ guineas per runner could 'buy out' an entire SA sale solo. Furthermore UK visitors have many very tight family/friend relationships in Cape Town which prompts an enormous annual inflow that does not necessarily stay in recognised tourist accomodation. In other words - there are a hell of a lot more of them here than you realise. And they don't need to be particularly wealthy by UK standards to feed a horse with Joey Ramsden........

Then add the environment which, with the possible exception of PE, is the most horse friendly in the country and you probably have your answer.

Turning to the Met - as MDK intimated in his post Summer Cup interview when Andrew Bon was about to rate Rudra alongside Horse Chestnut : taking on Pocket Power in CT is an altogether different proposition to the field he faced in the Summer Cup. Enough said.

If you take MDK's initial assessment of the Met seriously then all I can suggest is this ; Start taking doubles with everything you now fancy into Pocket Power. After being slow to become a Pocket Power 'believer' even I am now prepared to revise my opinion and elevate this animal to, at the very least, the eqivalent of a Politician. But certainly no Horse Chestnut with all due respect to the connections and trainer.

Hi Adios Bookies - Sale toppers are what keeps bloodstock agents in business! If you but knew what goes on behind the scenes when a 'commercial' horse is identified and then promoted you would run a mile. Go and review the 'green pages' of recent National Yearling Sales and you will quickly have a solution as to how to impoverish yourself - big time and quickly. Historically top priced yearlings almost ALWAYS get lumbered with 75Kg by the 'universe' everytime they put foot on a racecourse - assuming they even make it that far!

After being an owner I quickly understood the subtlety of the expression : Money cannot buy you a good horse.