Drier said that the four-year-old Captain Al gelding had “not put a foot wrong” in his preparation and he expected him to be cherry ripe on the day.

Regarding his draw of nine in the thirteen horse field Drier said, “The jockeys decide which is the best draw as they follow each other like sheep but he is drawn down the middle which is perfect.”

Captain Of All and jockey Sean Cormack (Nkosi Hlophe)

Captain Of All won the Gr 1 Tsogo Sun Medallion over 1200m at Scottsville as a two-year-old when showing high cruising speed out in front before kicking away from the field  at the business end and staying on well. He only just failed in the Gr 1 Golden Horseshoe over 1400m at Greyville in his next start, when leading throughout until being caught on the line.

In his first start as a three-year-old over the Kenilworth 1200m he once again showed tremendous cruising speed as well as the ability to find extra off a strong pace when leading from start to finish against some good sorts that included Golden Horseshoe winner Forest Indigo. However, he then had an injury enforced layoff for about 13 months, which included a rest on the farm. He had no major issues and the problem was described as a “little stifle injury and a small joint problem.”

Captain Of All proved in need of his comeback run on December 6 over 1100m at Kenilworth in the Listed Val De Ra Southeaster Sprint as he showed his usual good pace but then  faded late.

However, he won the Gr 2 Khaya Stables Diadem Stakes over the Kenilworth 1200m next time out on December 27. In the latter race he benefitted from slow fractions set out in front by Happy Forever and was able to steal a march on his main rivals from a handy position. He held on by 0,4 lengths from a flying Copper Parade.

He will be even fitter on Saturday and should be at his best. He hasn’t raced over 1000m since touched off on career debut by the subsequent Gr 1 winner Kochka, but considering his exceptional pace and extra gears he will be a leading contender.

Gathering Fame (Nkosi Hlophe)

The sponsor have priced him up as 5/1 third favourite and his regular pilot Sean Cormack will be aboard from draw nine in the 13 horse field.

Drier has taken home at least one Gr 1 trophy since his regular campaigns to Cape Town began in the 2011/2012 season. One of those trophies was the Cape Flying Championships which he won in 2012 with the brilliant Var filly Val De Ra, who kept the high class What A Winter at bay in a thriller.

This season’s campaign has not gone as well for Drier as usual due to many of his string suffering from travel sickness after arriving.

One of the worst hit was the talented four-year-old Jet Master filly Gathering Fame. However, she finally made her first Cape Town appearance last Saturday and showed a fine burst of speed in the straight to win the Listed Jamaica Handicap over 1700m under MJ Byleveld. This proved that the string were now well and truly over the illness and Captain Of All could be the one to land the Cape Town Gr 1 trophy for Drier this season.

Meanwhile, Drier believes Gathering Fame is “going places” and will map out “a Durban plan” for her.

The Ascot Stud-bred Lecture gelding is staying at his former trainer Joey Ramsden’s yard at Milnerton ahead of the Cape Flying Championships, which is to be run over 1000m at Kenilworth on Saturday. Bremner said that it had been too far, and too close to his next race, to travel him back home to Port Elizabeth after his flying and possibly unlucky second in the Gr 2 Diadem Stakes over 1200m at Kenilworth on December 27.

She added that his preparation for the big race had been a joint effort between the two yards.

Copper Parade will be the only two-time Gr 1 winner in Saturday’s race. He was awarded the Golden Horseshoe over 1450m at Clairwood as a two-year-old for Ramsden after a successful objection against Kavanagh. Last year Bremner sent Copper Parade on a couple of raids to Johannesburg and he put up his career best performance when beating the brilliant filly Via Africa in the Computaform Sprint over 1000m.

Strydom has ridden him in both of his Gr 1 wins and has been his regular recent partner in all races.

Copper Parade (JC Photo)

Copper Parade loves to stride out freely behind a strong pace before unleashing his devastating finishing kick.

There was a tremendous amount of pace in last year’s Computaform Sprint and for the probable first time in his career a race panned out exactly the way he liked it. Even Via Africa’s connections admitted that they had simply been beaten by the better horse on the day.

However, the pace of Saturday’s race is not Bremner’s main concern, rather it is the starting stall procedure.

In last year’s Cape Flying Championships the starter did not heed the request for Copper Parade to be loaded late and jockey Muzi Yeni landed himself in hot water for having been found to have used “vulgar language” directed at the starter and later to have acted “belligerently and disrespectfully” towards the stipendiary chairman in the boardroom. The start clearly effected Copper Parade’s performance that day and he trailed in 10,75 lengths behind the winner Via Africa.

Bremner said, “He becomes a little uptight and is supposed to be loaded late.”

She said she could only hope that the starting stall procedure went well for him this year and added that Strydom knew him well and always looked after him very well down at the pens.

If Copper Parade gets past that hurdle he could well be the one to beat as there looks to be plenty of pace in the race and he is drawn perfectly in seven, meaning Strydom will have the option to switch him to either side if the jockeys decide there is favourable going anywhere on the day.

Bremner took over a share in Copper Parade around the beginning of last year from her life partner Hedley McGrath, but after his brilliant Computaform Sprint win she clarified that it was still “our share”. The other share is held by Optima Trust whose nominee Val Fenix is one of the yard’s biggest supporters.

Irwin is the founding member of Team Valor International who own Visionaire and who also bred Royal Pleasure.

Royal Pleasure was backed in from 25/1 and started 3/1 second favourite. She showed pace throughout and then simply pulled away from the opposition in the closing stages.

Kotzen will be planning her career carefully and not rushing her. He said, “She still had a ton in hand at the finish and pulled up very well.”

Royal Pleasure created a big impression and one of her chief owners, the Durban bloodstock agent Andy Williams, said that the phone had been ringing off the hook since the win.

“Horses are always for sale if the price is right,” said Williams.

Royal Pleasure (Nkosi Hlophe)

Williams owns her in partnership with Kotzen’s mother-in-law Judy Wintle as well as the youthful syndicate 3 A Racing. The latter is made up of a group of friends that have a passion for racing and have done much to promote the sport to KZN’s youth, so they are thoroughly deserving of landing such a promising horse. The 3 A syndicate are headed by well know Tellytrack presenter Wesley Bowman and the Sportingbet Sports Trader, Andrew Harrison.

Royal Pleasure was chosen by Kotzen and Williams at the Suncoast Yearling Sale and they clinched her for a mere R30,000. She also qualifies for the lucrative KZN Yearling Sale Million on Vodacom Durban July day.

Mick Goss of Summerhill Stud pointed out a couple of years ago that Irwin had always wanted to send a stallion like Visionaire to cover his mares in South Africa.

Irwin explained, “Visionaire had only 25 named foals in his first crop. He stood at one of the smaller farms in Kentucky and was not promoted very well. What Mick meant is that I want to stand a horse in South Africa that I have enough faith in to produce straight-legged foals so that I can breed my own mares. I don’t like overpaying for classy but sometimes unreliable stallions that produce foals with front legs that are not consistently correct enough. The reason I chose Visionaire is that he is tall, his front limbs are perfect, he has a lot of bone, he was fast enough to sprint with the best, yet he easily got a middle distance around turns in America. Even though he was not an accomplished runner at 2, he did have the fastest clocking in the 2-year-old breeze-up sale in Ocala, Florida. He had plenty of gas.”

Visionaire’s best performance was when winning the Gr 1 King’s Bishop Stakes over seven furlongs on the dirt at Saratoga. He swept from the back of a ten-horse field that day and powered away to a 2,25 length triumph in a race that is widely considered to be North America’s most prestigious one-turn event for three-year-olds.

Visionaire is the son of the Gone West sire Grand Slam, who was a twice Gr 1 winner as a two-year-old. Among Grand Slam’s best progeny were the five-time Graded winner Limehouse as well as the Breeder’s Cup Sprint winner Cajun Beat.

Visionaire produced the Listed winner Bacopa Breeze and the stakes-placed Outlook with his only USA-bred crop.

He said on Monday this week, “He will have to be 100% spot on before we run him in the Met.”

Legislate (Nkosi Hlophe)

Legislate scoped full of mucus in his lungs after his shock last place finish in the L’Ormarin’s Queen’s Plate and Snaith spoke of the virus that caused it, “With an ordinary horse you will pick up immediately from its work that there is something wrong, but with a top class horse like him it is so hard to pick up because even when he works badly he will still feel like a superstar.

“He got the virus good, so we have our work cut out. We scope him once every four days and its almost gone. It is still in the lungs, but should be over in the next couple of days. He was coughing after the Queen’s Plate, so probably has the same virus that Futura had and if he (Futura) could recover so can we.”

Snaith was asked why Legislate had not been scoped before the Queen’s Plate. His reply suggested that this safety measure is very seldom employed and for good reason. He said, “The scope can actually help spread a virus. It is obviously cleaned each time before being used but having been stuck up so many horses’ noses it still poses a risk.”

He added, “I sought some advice from Barry Irwin after the Queen’s Plate on how they do it in America to avoid this problem and he told me about this new serum aminoid test (which is a blood test as opposed to scoping) and we will now be using this on our horses.”

Dynamic (Liesl King)

Meanwhile, Snaith was very bullish about another of his Met entries, Dynamic. He said, “He is the dark horse on his work as he is just getting better and better.”

Arion was an eyecatching winner of his last start in the Gr 2 Glorious Goodwood Peninsula Handicap over 1800m when producing a powerful and resolute finish and Snaith said, “He is very well and just needed his previous starts. He takes plenty of work and just became fitter and fitter.”

The yard now have Arion at his peak, so would rather just keep him ticking over, and Snaith added that this was an example of where the compulsory J&B Met Gallops could be a problem. He said, “He (Arion) is not the soundest, so we will have to be careful with him.”

Jet Explorer pulled a shoe during last year’s Met Gallops and banged his leg, which left the yard in a race against time to have him ready for the big race. However, Snaith said that this year he is in the mint of health in the build up to the gallops, “He is doing very well and is very sound and he will be better off at the weights with the first three in the Queen’s Plate.”

Astro News  (Nkosi Hlophe)

Snaith also runs two of the biggest outsiders, Astro News and Johnny Rockets.

Astro News has shown in the past that he comes to hand quite quickly, so should be at his peak having his third run after a rest, but he has consistently been found out at the highest level and in ten Gr 1 outings his best finish has been a fourth place in the SANSUI Summer Cup of 2012. However, he did finish just 1,95 lengths behind the great Igugu when finishing sixth in the Met as a three-year-old three years ago.

Johnny Rockets is an unsound horse, and therefore inconsistent, but he is capable of producing a strong finish as he proved when a close up fourth in the Gr 2 Vasco Premier Trophy over 1800m. He did not fully let himself that day, probably due to his unsoundness. If he was able to do so, for example in a case where the ground was more forgiving, he would be an interesting each/way prospect in a race like the Met or in other forthcoming major events like the Vodacom Durban July.