See It Again is out to prove trainer Justin Snaith’s belief that he’s “the best weight-for-age horse in South Africa” when he steps back to a mile in the G1 H F Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut Stakes at Turffontein on Saturday.
The six-year-old scored an epic, redeeming win in the G1 Cape Town Met at Kenilworth last month, avenging his G1 King’s Plate defeat to The Real Prince and giving long-time recovering addict Andrew Fortune his first victory in the great race.
With Fortune nursing a broken shoulder and collarbone, Richard Fourie will take the ride this time and while Snaith is confident the champion jockey’s track knowledge will only be beneficial, the challenge will be the move away from See It Again’s sea-side base in Cape Town to race at altitude on the Highveld, about 5,750 feet above sea level.
“See It Again is very well,” Snaith told Idol Horse. “Everything has gone to plan, everything is going well, but it’s a raid and up at altitude, so it complicates things: it’s a big problem racing at altitude.
“Fortunately the horse that we possibly have to beat is doing the same thing and that does help when the guy you probably have to beat is also travelling up.”
That horse is fellow Cape Town raider The Real Prince, trained by Dean Kannemeyer. See It Again had The Real Prince third in the 2000m Cape Town Met, but was himself third behind The Real Prince the time before in the G1 King’s Plate over a mile.
But See It Again was deemed unlucky in the King’s Plate and Snaith has faith in his ability at the shorter trip, at which he has not won since the Pinnacle Stakes in November 2024.
“He’s very good at a mile and a lot of his mile races have been runs to bring him into another race and he almost wins them anyway,” Snaith said. “That’s why we decided to go for it, because if you look at the last mile race, if he gets a run, he probably wins it.
He’s a very smart individual, he’s probably the best weight-for-age horse in South Africa, so there’s only one way to prove that and that’ll be on Saturday.”
Fourie was Snaith’s stable jockey before enjoying a successful spell in Hong Kong in the 2012-13 season, and has ridden numerous big wins for the stable since then, most recently when stepping in for last weekend’s G1 Cape Derby success on Wish List.
“See It Again will run his race whoever rides him, to be honest, but it’s a great pick-up that we can get somebody like Richard, we’re very fortunate. And he won in the last Group race where he filled in so I don’t see any difference here,” Snaith said.
“Especially at Turffontein, you want jockeys that ride well at certain tracks and Richard’s got a great record at Turffontein and that’s quite important. Some jockeys don’t suit some tracks: when you go to Jo’burg or Greyville in Durban, Richard’s one of those guys you want.”
The high-class field of nine also includes a strong local contingent: the Alec Laird-trained pair Fire Attack and Atticus Finch, last year’s winner Cosmic Speed from the Sean Tarry stable, and the 2024 victor Main Defender, trained by Tony Peter.
“It is a raid, there are risks involved but he himself is in a great space and all ready for Saturday,” Snaith added. “We expect a really good run from him if he handles the altitude.” ∎
