The Pocket Power dream ended at Kenilworth on Saturday when the nation’s best horse failed in his bid to win the J & B Met for what would have been an almost outlandish fourth time. And who was there to pick up the pieces? His little sister, River Jetez.
Fans of River Jetez have been waiting as long for her to upstage her big brother as her connections have waited for her to win a Gr 1 race, but the moment finally arrived when River Jetez came rocketing between rivals in the final stages of a memorable (if, to many, rather sad) Met to land her first ever success at the highest level. And what a stage she found to finally do it. It was a brave decision to give the six-year-old mare another spin in the Met, a race in which she finished third in 2009, rather than the much softer option of the Gr 1 Klawervlei Majorca Stakes earlier in the programme. Some might have even considered it slightly foolhardy, but fortune favours the brave and forget about the meek inheriting anything.
Naturally, most eyes were glued to Pocket Power, who came here fresh from a fourth straight success in the Gr 1 L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate three weeks earlier and who was seeking a remarkable 16th consecutive success around the Kenilworth turns. Not everyone was entirely impressed with his most recent Queen’s Plate performance, suggesting that his well-documented “flat spot” had taken the champ longer than usual to get out of, but he was still the 17/10 favourite on weight terms which favoured him enormously. The stable companions Oracy and Dan De Lago were next in the market at 11/2 and 6/1 respectively, while River Jetez was allowed to start as a 15/1 outsider in a maximum field of eighteen.
There was an unfortunate incident at the start when the gates opened while the loading process was still underway (and, dare one say, happening rather too slowly). Those horses already installed took off, but they were all pulled up within a reasonable distance. Still, this was a wholly undesired distraction and it may have had a particularly unsettling effect on Dan De Lago, who was left standing the best part of four lengths at the break when the race finally did start for real.
Mike Bass sent out a practically unheard-of five runners and there was never any danger that the 2010 Met would fall victim to the kind of pedestrian early pace which bedevils so many races in Cape Town. Supporters of ultra-consistent Red Rake who counted on their horse adopting his usual frontrunning tactics from the 1 draw soon saw their game plan vanish in flames when Bass-trained Diamond Quest rocketed off to the front and set a solid tempo from the start. He led the way from Red Rake, Fabiani and Surfin’ USA, with Mother Russia and Oracy next in line. As always, Pocket Power shuffled backwards through the field after an alert break and was a good ten lengths off the pacesetter, with River Jetez also bottled up well behind the leader.
Mother Russia made a break for it in the straight as Pocket Power angled to the outside of horses to ensure a clear run. Red Rake was still briefly in contention towards the far side, but 300m out Mother Russia had set sail for home. Pocket Power began to make some headway wider out, but was taking a little too long for comfort to hit top gear and it was stable companion Fort Vogue who looked the best prospect of the Bass runners as he loomed up with a big effort against the inside fence.
Mother Russia was holding the likes of Fort Vogue and Pocket Power at bay deep inside the last 100m, and Mike de Kock’s filly really did look to have the race won, but then the all-yellow jacket of River Jetez came slicing through the field with a tremendous late run under Glen Hatt to collar Mopther Russia in the dying strides. River Jetez went on to win by a widening half-length from Mother Russia, making it an exacta for the only two females in the line-up.
Pocket Power was running on well, and in the end he was only beaten one length by his year-younger sibling, but to be honest he never really looked like winning. Still, he was conceding 4.5 kgs to the winner and 3 kgs to the runner-up, and it says something for his reputation that to get beaten one length into the J & B Met at the age of seven can be considered disappointing. He didn’t run a bad race at all, even if it quite obviously was not his finest hour. Pocket Power is a gelding, and it is surely too late to harbor any thoughts of exporting him, so who’s to say that he won’t be back at the age of eight to try and pick up where he left off in 2009? For as long as he stays sound and enjoys his racing, he really does have nothing else to do.
Fort Vogue eventually finished fourth, within a short head of Pocket Power, leaving veteran jockey Karl Neisius to wait yet another year for an elusive first J & B Met success. This looked by some way to be Fort Vogue’s career-best effort, and the four-year-old is a progressive sort who may be set for a very lucrative KZN winter campaign. Fabiani was beaten little more than two lengths into fifth, which pretty much confirmed the improvement he has shown at four this season. Oracy seemed to have every chance before finishing eighth, but it all went pear-shaped for Dan De Lago. He quite clearly cannot be judged on this effort, which saw him finish with only Thundering Jet and a thoroughly spent Diamond Quest behind him.
The race may have been bittersweet for Mike Bass, but it was nevertheless a remarkable achievement to send out the winner, third, and fourth. He, of course, was winning the Met for a fourth time in succession, as was River Jetez’s co-owner Marsh Shirtliff, in whose colours Pocket Power competes.
“I don’t know whether to be happy or sad,” noted Bass, although it’s hard to imagine that anybody could stay unhappy for too long after winning a race like the Met. “Her work on Monday was outstanding,” added the trainer of River Jetez, a mare who was almost certainly only kept in training as a six-year-old solely to try and finally win a Gr 1 event.
River Jetez was given a copybook ride by Glen Hatt, who had previously won the J & B Met in 2001 with a similar late charge aboard Bass-trained Bunter Barlow. “I was able to get a lovely position behind Pocket Power and Fort Vogue,” said the jockey, adding that in the straight he switched his attention to tracking Mother Russia instead. It all worked out very nicely in the end, although one must still doff one’s hat to Mother Russia, who had the worst of the draw and who allayed any doubts that she stays a truly-run 2000m. She conceded 1.5 kgs to River Jetez, and was only denied a memorable win in the final strides.
River Jetez represents the somewhat legendary mating between champion sire Jet Master and Prince Florimund mare Stormsvlei, who herself won three minor races up to 1400m. Stallion and mare now have a perfect 100% record with two Gr 1 winners from two foals together, and it is worth noting that not one of Stormsvlei’s six other progeny by other sires (including some excellent ones) to race have managed even so much as a place in a Listed race. When it works, it works. River Jetez was bred by Out of Africa Stud and was acquired for R230 000 at the 2005 National Two-Year-Old Sale. Co-owned with Marsh Shirtliff by Mr and Mrs Cedric Amm, in whose colours she competes, River Jetez has won nine of her 30 starts for R3 331 150 in stakes.
KENILWORTH, South Africa, January 30, $328,000, 3&up, 2,000mT (9.94fT),
good, 2:02.82.
1st—=RIVER JETEZ (SAF), 118, B. m. 6, =Jet Master (SAf)—=Stormsvlei
(SAf), by Prince Florimund (SAf). Owners—C. A. Amm and N. M. Shirtliff;
Breeder—Out of Africa Stud (SAf); Trainer—Mike W. Bass.
2nd—=MOTHER RUSSIA (SAF), 121, B. m. 4, Windrush—=Russian Muse
(SAf), by Russian Fox.
3rd—=POCKET POWER (SAF), 128, B. g. 7, =Jet Master (SAf)—=Stormsvlei
(SAf), by Prince Florimund (SAf).
Margins: 1/2, 1/2, head.
