LEGAL EAGLE NEW J&B MET FAV

Thanks again, great racing these Mets are.

Yard arm ..queen plate ridden by ryhs van wyk then the met mark khan

Stake in 1993 R750 000 usd 250 000

and wait for it 23 years later

Stake 2016 R2 500 000 usd 151 515

kaya wrote: Yard arm ..queen plate ridden by ryhs van wyk then the met mark khan

Correct, won the Queens Plate in March 2004 and the Met in April 2004 due to the Equine Flu outbreak.

I will forgive the youngsters for not remembering..Sledgerhammer (nz) and Yataghan ............

Mark Anthony.........brings back memories.

Goosebumps all over just watching that again. Thank you Naresh

Was most impressed with Legal Eagle on Saturday. I think he has the class to pull of the double. Very special horse this.

Im not too sure LE is a 13/10 shot tho

PeeKay wrote: Im not too sure LE is a 13/10 shot tho

True. He's a 8/10 shot. 2000m is his best distance

Had a quick glance at Interbet. They are betting 177%(!) the field.......

Countrymember wrote: I will forgive the youngsters for not remembering..Sledgerhammer (nz) and Yataghan ............

Was not even born then.

Yataghan (1974), Sledgehammer (1975). Interestingly back then the Met was run in January then the Queens Plate in February. Another Fact last years 2015 second, Gold Onyx, won a race named after Sledgehammer in 2012 at Scotsville and is an entry this year.

Only could source pictures. Please dont shoot the messenger as I dont know which races these were taken at nor the people. Way before my time.

Yataghan





Sledgehammer

Slow down, boys! All this debate about the favourites. The Met has a long history of being won by lesser fancied runners so beware horses which are displaying suspect form in their prep races.

A bookmaker once advised me to pass on punting in big races altogether for the following reasons;

Favourites average about 5/2 in major races. Hardly a gift when you consider that a Grade 1 is one of the few occasions where you are taking on a field which is 100% alive with all runners genuinely out to try and win. You can get the same price most weeks in a maiden plate where only a handful of runners are likely to bother the fancied runner/s for a number of reasons; ranging from the horse actually being useless to inexperience etc. Better proposition!

The Met became a conditions race in 1973 although the selfsame conditions have been tampered with in recent years. You might also like to take out the superstar multiple winners from that period such as Politician & Pocket Power. But for evaluation purposes I list hereunder the real 'roughie' results since that date:

1973 - Gold Flame
1981 - Queen's Elect
1985 - Charles Fortune
1989 - Fearless Streaker
1994 - Pas De Quoi
1998 - Imperious Sue
2001 - Bunter Barlow
2005 - Alastor
2010 - River Jetez
2011 - Past Master
2013 - Martial Eagle

To the best of my memory all of the above, with the possible exception of Past Master (who delivered a poor Queens Plate before winning the Met), started at odds of 10/1 or longer. So statistically you have a 1 in 4 chance of being rolled by a roughie if you back the favourite in this race.

Makes a mockery of the odds on offer about Futura & Legal Eagle right now.