Leung Ho Yin, Simon's Bio
Simon is a well respected full-time thoroughbred racing commentator specializing in overseas international racing. Bringing with him a wealth of racing knowledge, Simon is the host and race caller for the overseas simulcast programme since 2008/09 season. He is currently the presenter on several racing television programmes including, ‘Banker’, ‘Racing Horizon’ and ‘Horse Racing – Results’.

Kenilworth Racecourse – Track Analysis (Met Day):

Nestled in Cape Town, South Africa, the left-handed Kenilworth Racecourse is unique for having three tracks: the Old Course, in use for the bulk of the winter season, that is 2700m in circumference, the 2800m New Course that caters for summer racing, and a separate 1200m chute that runs right through the infield area.

As one of the marquees high-lighting at summer each year in the South African racing calendar, the Met Day will entirely be staged on the New Course, where all fields racing through the far turn will navigate mostly a leveled course, except for a slight incline deep into the final furlong, or with about 200m to go. For the pair of main features – The Met and the Cape Derby, both contested at 2000m – fields will travel the full 600m homestretch before hitting the first turn, and is truly good news for outside-drawn runners, as they would use all the time they need to find coverage or be sent forward. In contrast, runners drawing high numbers in the CTS 1600 and the Majorca Stakes will have only a brief 200m run-in to the far turn of this 1600m trip; therefore, they need to save as much ground as possible, or be floated wide and possibly lose some balance through that wicked turn. Nonetheless, with the aforementioned 600m stretch run, deep closers, as they find their balance and momentum, still have all the real property they need to rally from far back.

Meanwhile, for the 1000m Cape Flying Championship and the 1200m CTS 1200 that will visit the chute on the day, runners will navigate a slight incline with about 200m to go, and runners from the middle or outside part of this chute would enjoy a better trip; whereas for the 2800m Cape Stayers that utilizes one full lap of this New Course, the starting gate is positioned immediately after passing the finishing post, thus the field is literally breaking into the first turn. That being said, with more tepid early fractions in a deep route, the draw generally bears little significance.

In the 2018 edition of The Met contested on good goings, the eventual tierce – OH SUSANNA, LAST WINTER and MARINARESCO – were all travelling two-deep through most of this 2000m trip, with the only difference being LAST WINTER, who dropped further back in the early goings, whereas OH SUSANNA and MARINARESCO were in touch while cruising mid-pack. In all, this trio rallied from out wide down the stretch to loop their competition.

With continued sunshine that basks the Cape Town area as of late, cloudy skies – but little precipitation, and thus a good turf strip – is on deck for this year’s edition of the Met Day. Should that be the case, runners breaking from middle or outside post positions would enjoy a slight edge on the chute, while a balanced selection that includes different running styles is more preferred for contests on the course proper.

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