2023 Cape Town Met Tips - Fairytale farewell for Jet Dark at Kenilworth?

With just 51.5kg to shoulder, Make It Snappy could be very hard to beat in this year's Cape Town Met. The being said, Brett Crawford's filly does come into this race on the back of a hard-fought victory over older mares in the Paddock Stakes - where Make It Snappy was getting 6kg at the weights - and this will be the first time she's ever tackled the boys. I'm happy to take the market leader on.

Justin Snaith revealed during the build-up to the Met that JET DARK, despite his relatively young age of five, will be retired to stud following Saturday's race and there's an excellent chance that we could see Richie Fourie's mount bow out with a fifth Grade One triumph.

A two-time winner of the Champions Cup over nine furlongs and the runaway winner of the 2022 Queen's Plate back down over the mile, I had pigeon-holed Jet Dark as a speed horse. I didn't fancy Snaith's runner at all going into the Durban July, especially under a top weight of 60kg. Yet, Jet Dark proved any doubters wrong with a fantastic performance that day, staying on gamely to finish second behind the impressive winner, Sparkling Water.

Snaith's star returned to action this season with an easy win at Grade Three level, but missed his prep-run for the King's Plate after meeting with a minor setback. Despite that hiccup, Jet Dark went on to run well at Kenilworth earlier this month, passing Kommetdieding in the closing stage to finish third as Al Muthana upset Charles Dickens.

Jet Dark rattled home to finish third in this race 12 months ago, having missed the break from stall nine. Snaith's star is drawn beautifully in stall four this time around and he could round off an excellent career with a fairytale ending.

I'm also going to have a small each-way punt on an old favourite of mine, LINEBACKER. Vaughan Marshall's charge hasn't progressed as many had hoped following a superb three-year-old campaign. Linebacker really struggled for consistency during 2022 and hasn't run particularly well on either of his starts over a mile so far this term.

Over 10 furlongs, however, Linebacker's record is excellent. Marshall's star has run over this distance three times, claiming two Grade One wins as a three-year-old while also running very well when third in this race 12 months ago. Marshall said in his press piece building up to Saturday's Met that Linebacker has come on massively for that run in the King's Plate and I can't ignore him at 50/1, now Corne Orffer's mount is back running over his optimum distance.