Sophomore form was in disarray yesterday when William Longsword (30-1) swung hard and fast under MJ Byleveld to decapitate his rivals in the Gr1 Grand Parade Cape Guineas at Kenilworth and give Vaughan Marshall his fourth win in the classic.

There were many question marks hanging over the opening Gr1 of the season but the first leaks in the form appeared when yesterday’s favourite Table Bay – ominously easy to back at 3-1 – took a hiding in the Selangor Cup when all were singing his praises after his facile victory in the Cape Classic.

Taken to the front by Anton Marcus, and leading into the final two furlongs, Table Bay was soon in trouble. Byleveld, tracking the leader and racing in the same Mayfair Speculator silks barring a red cap, picked his moment and powered past the tiring favourite.

Gold Standard, ahead of William Longsword in the Selangor, reversed the placings to gave the Guineas form some creditability.

Joey Ramsden was on record that Table Bay’s defeat in the Selangor was due to racing too handy so it was puzzling when Marcus bounced the gate and took Table Bay to set the pace with Byleveld sitting on his tail. Two furlongs out, Table Bay was out of puff, surrendering his lead as William Longsword whistled past.

It was not all plain sailing as Richard Fourie sent Gold Standard out of the pack to challenge but for all intents and purposes the race was over.

The expected Highveld challenge failed to materialise with both Singapore Sling and Heavenly Blue failing to fire while the KZN pair of Hack Green and Gunner were similarly disappointing.

Table Bay hung on to finish third ahead of a wall of horses.

The result was not unexpected as most pundits were divided on the form, so just how things pan out over the following six months will be interesting.

Earlier, Justin Snaith had made no bones that he has struggled to find a suitable comeback race for star filly Bela-Bela and the plan almost came unstuck in a slow-run Conditions Plate. To be fair Bela-Bela would not have been disgraced in defeat over a distance short of optimum but under a tremendous ride by Anton Marcus her class told and she goes into her Summer features with a good prep under her girth.

Off a desperate early gallop, Bela-Bela was lobbing along midfield but Marcus had all in hand and was in no hurry to make his move. He kept the grey covered for as long as his nerve held in the home straight and when he went for broke there will have been a few sweaty palms amongst the connections.

But the run was perfectly timed and in spite of the narrow winning margin, Marcus always seemed to have the result in hand.

Silver Mountain was never asked much, trailing the field for most of the race and trotting home – probably undone by the notorious ‘Cape Crawl’!

Andrew Harrison

Picture: Liesl King