Cape Town - Jet Dark turned the tables on fierce rival Kommetdieding at the WSB Cape Town Met on Saturday when he produced one of the most exciting finishes to the famous race in many years at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth.
Last year, the roles were reversed as Kommetdieding (8-1) pipped Jet Dark (4-1) in an equally exciting finish. Saturday's thriller provided a classic swansong for these two great horses, who will now retire to the breeding sheds.
Winning rider Richard Fourie, one of the country's most exciting young jockeys, paid tribute to the two horses after the race.
“(Jet Dark) and Kommetdieding, what can you say? It is an incredible way to send these great horses to stud."
Some 20 metres out from the post, it looked like the Ashwin Reynolds-owned horse Kommetdieding, trained by Michelle Rix and Harold Crawford, would be repeating his 2022 winning performance. However, Jet Dark produced a lightning turn of speed on the outside to take the honours by the narrowest of margins into the teeth of a strong South Easter headwind.
The five-year-old Jet Dark crowned a triumphant day for the Snaith stable, which fielded 34 horses on the 12-race programme on Saturday. Jet Dark, under jockey Gavin Lerena, led the way for trainer Justin Snaith to claim the first, third and fourth places when outsider Pomp and Power and Nexus finished closely behind Kommetdieding after 2 000m of pulsating racing.
Pomp And Power was one of the star performers after launching a storming finish from last place, some 20 lengths off the pace at one stage, in the 19-horse race. Perhaps, in a longer race, Pomp And Power would have shocked the two highly-fancied fancied horses.
IOL Sport