The final field for the R3-million L’Ormarins King’s Plate will be unveiled on Monday and a talking point will surely be the possible presence of Vaughan Marshall’s boom three-year-old One Stripe, a sparkling winner of the recent Hollywoodbets Gr1 Cape Guineas over the Justin Snaith duo of Eight On Eighteen and Great Plains, both of which are amongst the 17 entries.
History shows that three-year-olds have it all to do in this prestigious mile race, given that there have been only ten sophomore winners since its inception in 1861, two of which in the new millennium.
To put it into perspective though, strangely very few 3yo’s take their chances in the prestige mile.
The Gimmethegreenlight team after the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate win (Pic – Supplied)
The 2012 renewal saw future champion stallion Gimmethegreenlight break a 38-year drought to become the first three-year-old winner this century of this coveted prize by finishing a half-length in front of old foe Variety Club.
The last sophomore to land the prestigious mile event before that had been Yataghan, who crossed the wire first way back in 1973, almost a lifetime ago!
Nine years went by before another Snaith-trained three-year-old took the honours. This time it was future champion Jet Dark who dented some huge reputations in the 2021 renewal.
Jet Dark (Grant van Niekerk) made it look so easy! (Pic- Candiese Lenferna)
The sole representative of what many considered a vintage classic crop, he was thrown in the deep end considering the quality of the field, yet proved up to the task and ran on stoutly to hold off Rainbow Bridge, who came with a powerful surge up the outside.
Twelve months later, Jet Dark put up arguably the best performance of his career to score by over two lengths from Kommetdieding, who had a head to spare over Rainbow Bridge.
Great to see Gauteng-based trainers support the Western Cape’s premier mile race. In somewhat of a bold move, Sean Tarry has nominated the dual Gr1 winning sprinter Lucky Lad, who has yet to score the mile distance. In his sole attempt over the trip, he finished almost twelve lengths behind Dave The King in the Hollywoodbets Gr1 Gold Challenge at Hollywoodbets Greyville.
However, Tarry is no stranger to King’s Plate success, having trained the last Gauteng winner, the magnificent miler Legal Eagle, who completed a rare treble in 2018.
In 2016, the then four-year-old delivered the killer blow at the top of the straight and repelled all challengers to power home a facile winner over former Horse of the Year Legislate and Cape Guineas winner Noah From Goa.
Twelve months later, he smoothly moved to the fore under Anton Marcus before bounding clear of his rivals to come home unchallenged, with Captain America in second.
In 2018, he lined up as a dual Horse of the Year winner and in a hard-fought affair, held off longshot Copper Force and Captain America, victory taking his career earnings to almost R10,6-million which at the time, made him the country’s top earner.
Fellow Gauteng trainer Alec Laird also has a King’s Plate trophy on his mantlepiece, having won the 1997 renewal with the mighty London News, who sauntered to victory. He could return to Hollywoodbets Kenilworth, having nominated Atticus Finch, a somewhat surprise winner of the Gr1 Betway Summer Cup.
Rounding out the Gauteng visitors is the Johan Janse van Vuuren-trained Barbaresco, who despite having placed at Gr1 level, has yet to break through at stakes level.
Take A Walk – 1994 Queen’s Plate winner (Pic – Supplied)
Gone are the days when KwaZulu-Natal trainers regularly raided the Cape season, least of all saddling a King’s Plate winner. One has to go back all of 31 years to 1994, when David Payne led New Zealand -bred import Take A Walk into the number one box.
Last year, the Michael Roberts-trained See It Again ventured from his Summerveld base and came close when runner-up behind Charles Dickens. Happily, the chestnut will be given a second crack at the prize.
Also back amongst the entries is Ricky Maingard’s Al Muthana, who famously brought to an end Charles Dickens’s undefeated record when he grabbed the honours with a whirlwind finish in 2023.
Bernard Fayd’herbe returns on Al Muthana after upstaging Charles Dickens in a thriller (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
Twelve months later, the tables were turned, with Al Muthana having to settle for fourth.
As usual, the powerful Justin Snaith stable leads the local contingent with five entries. Since his maiden victory with Gimmethegreenlight, he has added Do It Again (2019) and of course Jet Dark, who completed the double in 2022.
This year, Snaith’s quintet of entries includes not just the three-year-olds Great Plains and Eight On Eighteen, the stable’s main hope may well rest on Snow Pilot. Ninth in last year’s King’s Plate, the former Cape Guineas winner gave notice that he will be no pushover with two wins from as many starts this season, one of which a length victory over One Stripe.
Completing the Snaith entries are last year’s King’s Plate third Royal Aussie and Without Question, both of which ran creditably when second and fourth respectively in the recent Green Point Stakes.
It is exactly a decade ago since Brett Crawford celebrated his first King’s Plate winner.
Having run second with Jackson in 2013 and 2014, he finally got it right in 2015 with Futura, who cornered stone last and powered home to take the honours from Triple Crown winner Louis The King.
Futura (Bernard Fayd’herbe) wins the 2015 L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate (Pic – Supplied)
The race has since eluded Crawford, albeit that Captain America twice finished in the frame.
This year the stable is likely to rely on Gr1 Hollywoodbets Durban July winner Oriental Charm, who recorded a smart victory in the Gr3 Green Point Stakes since arriving from his Randjesfontein base.
There is no doubt that Vaughan Marshall would dearly love to win this elusive Gr1 race still missing from his CV, however he has made no secret of the fact that the draw will determine whether One Stripe will stand his ground.
The final field will be declared on Monday and fingers crossed we will see him take on the cream of the battle-hardened older generation on January 4.
