Will King fall for the Cape crawl?

Legislate's scratching from tomorrow's J&B Met dumped his legion of fans and their betting fans on the Kenilworth turf.

On the other hand, wary punters who didn't make the colt a good thing for Cape Town's big race - even at his one-time odds of 9/10 - suddenly find things easier: one less to worry about.

To his credit, trainer Justin Snaith repeatedly warned the public that a shadow hung over his Durban July winner - especially after the colt's poor effort in the Queen's Plate and a subsequent lung scope revealed an infection. So, if you backed Legislate with a bookmaker, you won't be getting your money back and have only your impulsive, reckless self to blame.

Snaith will still saddle five runners in the 14-horse field for the R2.5-million, Grade 1 event. So, obviously, his yard remains a big factor.

More so with Snaith announcing his intention to stage a "go-slow". None of his Met candidates enjoys a fast-run race, so the jockeys have been instructed to slow things right down. "The others are welcome to chase around my six! [now five]," was the challenge of the young champ.

Racing people know all about the "Cape crawl", a notorious phenomenon that, like the southeaster, influences many a race at Kenilworth and has people tearing at their hair.

With its long, wide bend, the racecourse allows jockeys racing at the front to keep a tight hold on their mounts, reducing the pace to a canter, trapping fancied horses that daren't waste energy racing wide, and thus reducing the whole contest to a brief mad charge for the line. Stamina, fitness and superior galloping prowess are negated and, in the melee of the final furlongs, well, anything can find a lucky gap, fly up and win.

Bunter Barlow, Alastor and Past Master have shocked in the Met in this way.

The "Snaith snails", drawn on the inside, will be hoping to stymie, in particular, joint favourites Futura and Louis The King - drawn in gates No7 and No8.

The trainers of those two horses, Brett Crawford and Geoff Woodruff, won't be pawns in the game and will have their own strategies. Woodruff, for instance, has two stablemates to ride shotgun for Louis The King. And Louis' rider, Striker Strydom, is master of pace and peerless at winning from the front.

The tactical battle will be thrilling; expect interesting moves when the starting stalls crash open at 4.45pm.

I'm firmly in the camp of Louis The King - the warrior king. With a name like that he can't be the Zulu warrior of my silly imaginings. (Interestingly though, Louis, Prince Imperial and only son of Napoleon III and Empress Eugenie of France, was killed by Zulus in 1879 shortly after the Battle of Isandhlwana.)

Our Louis is a monarch with zero birthright or entitlement and fought his way to the top with a penchant for a scrap. Unwanted at various sales as a yearling, he was eventually bought in a car park for a pittance, sight-unseen, by Woodruff, on the pleadings of a breeder friend.

He looked rubbish in the auction ring, but on a racecourse he's glorious - all bravery, muscularity and determination. Anyone who saw Louis win the Triple Crown and the Summer Cup knows what I'm talking about.

For the rest, Futura obviously has a big chance after his impressive Queen's Plate victory.

My lurker in the pack, though, is comeback kid Jet Explorer - Snaith's amazing six-year-old, newly recovered from a smashed jaw, who has quietly returned to full combat duty.

One race. Two warriors.

SELECTION

3 Louis The King, 5 Jet Explorer, 2 Futura, 4 Gold Onyx

MET BETTING

5/2 Futura, Louis The King

10/1 Tellina

14/1 Arion, Dynamic

16/1 Power King

18/1 Killua Castle

25/1 Jet Explorer, Gold Onyx, Punta Arenas

40/1 and upwards the others