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Justin Snaith is on for a hat-trick in the G1 Cape Town Met at Kenilworth this weekend when the talented three-year-old Eight On Eighteen will lead his stable’s five-horse assault.

Meanwhile, the champion trainer’s star filly Double Grand Slam will chase a third consecutive win this season when she goes to post for the G1 Majorca Stakes, one of three Group 1 races – the other being the G1 Cape Flying Championship – on Cape Town’s biggest raceday.  

The handler first won ‘the Met’ in 2018 with Oh Susanna and followed up with Jet Dark in 2023 and Double Superlative in 2024.  

Eight On Eighteen, the mount of South Africa’s record-breaking champion jockey Richard Fourie, has won two of six lifetime starts, all at Kenilworth, and heads in off a smart second in the G1 Cape Guineas at a mile on December 14. That effort saw the colt chase home race-favourite One Stripe, who then franked the form when beating his elders in the G1 King’s Plate.

That sets up the rare prospect of the Classic generation taking out two of South Africa’s weight-for-age majors in quick succession.

“I think the older horses are a little bit on the weaker side, so that helps the younger horses; quite a few have retired to stud and that has opened the door to the three-year-olds this year,” Snaith said.

South Africa’s multiple champion trainer – leading the standings again with 94 wins – sees the step up in trip as a positive for Eight On Eighteen.

“In the Guineas he came from a long way back and made up a lot of ground on the favourite, and he’s a horse that I hope still has a lot more to come: he’s not quite there but I’m hoping come this race he’ll be at his best,” he said.

“The distance is what he’s been waiting for – although I think he’ll be as good over a mile – it’s just I brought him on very carefully as he’s a little bit immature.”

Snaith is not taking anything for granted, though, in what he considers to be an open 16-runner contest. His team also includes Royal Aussie, Future Swing, Pacaya, and Magic Verse but the threat to his hat-trick attempt could come from the Michael Roberts-trained five-year-old See It Again, a sub-par last of 13 over a mile in the King’s Plate last time.

“It depends on how the race is run: it’s one of those races where I think it’s very open. A horse like Eight On Eighteen, if he doesn’t get his run it will then open up the entire field, in my opinion, anything could possibly win,” Snaith said.

“Some of the horses in this race aren’t really weight-for-age type horses, they’re pretty much a little bit better when it’s a handicap, so that’s why, for me, this race has opened up. The ones that are higher-rated might not be distance suited.”

Double Grand Slam winning at Greyville
DOUBLE GRAND SLAM, RICHARD FOURIE / G2 Tibouchina Stakes // Greyville /// 2024 //// Photo by Chase Liebenberg/Cape Racing

It’s a different story in the Majorca Stakes, with Double Grand Slam rolling in off an impressive victory last time in the G1 Paddock Stakes over 1800m. The four-year-old was third in this contest last year behind the five-time Group 1 winner Princess Calla, and will have Fourie in the saddle against six rivals.

“She’s a very impressive filly,” Snaith said. “When she does get beat it’s usually because she finds a bit of traffic or interference.

“She’s extremely well. I was quite bullish that nothing would beat her last time, and this time around I feel the same. It’s going to take something very special to beat her, and listen, maybe she gets beat, but it’ll take a mammoth effort from one of the other horses. I just feel she’s in the time in her career when she’s just a very, very hard filly to beat.”

Snaith is without a runner in the G1 Cape Flying Championship, which features last year’s winner Dyce among 15 runners ∎

David Morgan is Chief Journalist at Idol Horse. As a sports mad young lad in County Durham, England, horse racing hooked him at age 10. He has a keen knowledge of Hong Kong and Japanese racing after nine years as senior racing writer and racing editor at the Hong Kong Jockey Club. David has also worked in Dubai and spent several years at the Racenews agency in London. His credits include among others Racing Post, ANZ Bloodstock News, International Thoroughbred, TDN, and Asian Racing Report.

View all articles by David Morgan.

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