Wow! What a racehorse. And after Saturday’s demolition job Table Bay could attempt to become the first three-year-old to win the Met since Horse Chestnut and Badger’s Coast 17 years ago.

“It’s the Guineas next and then we will play around with a few ideas – whether we go for the Derby or the Met,” said Markus Jooste’s racing manager Derek Brugman. “At this point in time we will probably lean towards the side of caution but it’s not inconceivable that we will lean towards the Met.”

For a Grand Parade Cape Guineas winner, and that’s what Table Bay now looks like, the Investec Cape Derby is just an  ordinary Grade 1 whereas the Met has huge stallion value-enhancing potential – not to mention a R5 million stake thanks to Sun International’s sponsorship.

In truth, Table Bay’s Drakenstein Vet Clinic performance was that of a champion. Giving weight all round – including a staggering 5kg to half the field – the 3-1 chance went clear two furlongs out to draw further and further away. He won easing up by four lengths.

“I knew he was good but I’m shocked by the way he won this. It was mind-blowing,” said Brugman while Joey Ramsden (“a lovely laid-back horse and a smashing sort”) will surely have nightmares about how close he came to missing the colt in Melbourne. It will be a long time before he travels without an alarm clock.

“Of course I was impressed,” said Anton Marcus answering the obvious before disclosing that he would have had little hesitation in leading from the start. “It was always my intention to move him up [the field] a bit and it wouldn’t have been a train smash if he had led.”

This was the third time in four years that the Cape Classic has gone to the same owner-trainer-jockey combination but Riaan van Reenen is already planning to resume rivalry on December 17 with 18-1 runner-up Elevated.

He said: “Every time Elevated runs it looks as if the distance is too short for him but we will miss the Selangor and go straight to the Guineas. He was a late foal (December 9) and I don’t want to over-race him.”

But Edict Of Nantes will run in the Selangor a fortnight on Saturday with Brett Crawford hoping for more of a trouble-free run – “He had to check twice yet he still got up to come third.”

The mile race is also next for 18-10 favourite Our Mate Art who took fourth. “He should have finished better but he was constantly off the bridle,” said Candice Bass-Robinson. “He missed the break, got a bump and Grant had to keep chasing him up.”

Stable companion Marinaresco, though, was a different story in the Drakenstein Stud Pinnacle just over an hour later. It was almost as if the Champions Cup winner had been watching Table Bay and set out to show the younger horse just what he will be up against should he have the audacity to throw down the gauntlet on January 28.

Six furlongs was far too short and for five of them he was stone last. When Van Niekerk finally switched on the turbocharger (“I gave him just one backhander, and a soft one at that”) his mount accelerated like a Ferrari and at the line he was a rapidly-diminishing third to Silicone Valley.

“That was a nice come-on run,” said his trainer with the sort of masterly understatement you expect from her father. “Marinaresco now goes for the Green Point on December 3 and then it’s the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate and the Met.”

Ektifaa, Australian-bred and out of a mare by Table Bay’s sire Redoute’s Choice, gave Mike de Kock his first Choice Carriers Championship since Phillipa Johnson 13 years ago and seems sure to take her chance in the WSB Fillies Guineas on December 3. “Most probably – we came down on Tuesday and we are here for three months,” said long-time assistant Natie Kotzen.

It was the biggest Cape Town win so far for Callan Murray who reported: “She made a bit of a hash-up of the start, rearing shortly before the gates opened. Fortunately she broke well, got into a beautiful position and dug down to the line.”

But 5-2 favourite Sail is likely to be backed to reverse the placings on December 3. She was desperately unlucky and finished like the proverbial train to go under by three parts of a length.

“One of the Bass runners carried me out after being pushed wide by Red Light Girl jumping a shadow,” reported Sean Veale. “I will take on the winner again in the Fillies Guineas and over the longer run-in you will see a different result.”

The Secret Is Out lost her unbeaten record, managing only seventh, but Vaughan Marshall was far from disheartened, reasoning: “I thought it was a good run considering she got baulked leaving the gates. She was bumped by a horse on her inside coming out.”

Gavin Lerena was suspended for a week for interference when winning the Highlands Stud Handicap on Captain Courteous while the latter’s stable companion Le Harve lost his stalls cert for rearing in the pens, breaking through and delaying the Cape Classic.

Michael Clower