Just under a month after the Maine Chance Farms Gr1 Majorca Stakes attracted a disappointingly small field of just seven runners, the R1,5 million SplashOut Gr1 Cape Derby will host the same number of starters at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on Saturday.
In the 2025 Cape Derby field published earlier on Monday, Justin Snaith’s WSB Cape Town Met winner Eight On Eighteen heads a quintet of runners from the yard in a field of just seven runners.
Justin Vermaak – understands the realities but puzzled with big yards (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
Cape Racing Executive Racing and Bloodstock Justin Vermaak philosophically told the Sporting Post that assembling decent sized fields for a 3yo Grade 1 over ground was always going to be a challenge, but that with the exception of ‘maybe one or two horses missing’, the SplashOut Cape Derby field was representative and of a high quality.
“As seen in Saturday’s Betway London News Stakes, which is an all-ages Grade 3, only seven runners accepted. The industry is being hard hit by the impact of the massively reducing foal crops, which has been evidenced in the 2yo race fields. This, coupled with the breeders’ focus on producing sprinter-milers, has created a complete dearth in middle distance and staying races,” he explained.
“We have also experienced with some of the other features this summer, including the King’s Plate and the Green Point Stakes, that we have to live with smaller fields. But again we are happy with the quality of Saturday’s field.”
Vermaak said that maybe what was more telling, is that beyond Justin Snaith’s support, and with kudos to Piet Steyn and Andre Nel, who don’t have the luxury of yearling numbers, he notes the absence of other ‘massive’ Cape yards, who have the benefit of big buying power from the leading farms at the yearling sales, and also enjoy the luxury of top breeder support.
“None of them could muster a runner in the Cape Derby. It’s really quite telling in my opinion,” suggested Vermaak.
Brett Crawford – ‘my 3yo fillies stronger than the boys this season’ (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
While Vermaak did not mention any trainer by name, we took the liberty of contacting Hong Kong-bound Hollywoodbets sponsored Brett Crawford, who has a Cape Derby winner on his illustrious cv and trains in partnership with his son James at Futura Park in Philippi.
“Our yard just happens to be stronger amongst the 3yo fillies than the 3yo males this season. One should remember that it’s inevitably all in the nature of cycles. If we bought well every year, we’d be enjoying multiple Grade 1 winners every season! I have also never been one to run an 88 merit-rated horse for the sake of filling a Grade 1 field. Believe me, if we had a competitive Cape Derby candidate in our ranks, we’d enjoy nothing more than taking them on in the SplashOut Cape Derby on Saturday!” added Brett.
‘Best interests of horse and owner come before filling fields’ says Candice Bass-Robinson (Pic – Supplied)
We then spoke to Betway sponsored Candice Bass-Robinson, who did not accept with the promising Major Master in the Cape Derby, but is certainly regarded as one of the bigger yards in the region.
“I always owe it to my owners and their horses to do first and foremost what I believe is best for them. Major Master is a lovely horse. But he showed in the recent Politician Stakes that he is just not ready and is being gelded tomorrow. He couldn’t have beaten Eight On Eighteen at this stage of the game. Consider too that he is currently rated 88 – if we run anywhere near Eight On Eighteen, and the chances are always there that we could do so in a small field, we are going to be lumbered with a potentially ludicrous increase in rating. Those considerations, coupled with the fact that the declaration fee is not a pittance, suggests it makes little sense to run for the sake of filling a field. So in consultation with his owners, we opted not to run him,” explained the leading lady trainer.
Exciting Major Master – Candice explains why he didn’t run in the Cape Derby (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
On the aspect of her stable size Candice went on to say that even with 45 youngsters coming into the yard, and taking into account that there are many fillies amongst them, there was no guarantee that she would automatically have a competitive Cape Derby runner every year – as much as she strives high and would relish that opportunity
“The long-term penalty of taking a chance in top features is an issue and that needs discussion and industry consideration. Take our horse Future Variety – he ran second behind Thunderstruck in the Diadem last year. He was pushed from a 112 to a 118. We were limited thereafter and he has dropped steadily, running only a single place all year. But then he finished unplaced over 7 lengths behind Dean Kannemeyer’s Gimme A Prince in the Cape Flying Championship, and he goes up from a 112 to 114. It’s frustrating!” she concluded.
