With the older horses, barring See It Again, so closely clustered in the ratings, smoking out the winner of the G1 Cape Town Met (2000m) at Kenilworth Racecourse, Cape Town on Saturday (25 January) in South Africa might hinge on a couple of factors.

The two principal questions are: Just how good is the sole three-year-old participant Eight On Eighteen, who is now ante-post favourite? And what impact will the likely strong pace have on each contestant?

If only See It Again could be assured of running up to his best figures, then the puzzle is solved. The high-class son of Twice Over is top-rated by some margin and will relish a fiercely run ten-furlong race on a galloping track. So, what’s not to like about Michael Roberts’s charge?

The main query is current physical condition. See It Again tottered in stone last in his G1 King’s Plate (1600m) preparation run three weeks ago at this course, though the official stipes report indicates nothing obviously wrong was detected.

Stable feedback suggests the Durban-based star is battling to recover from his cross-country travels. He had an arduous time when competing in the G1 Summer Cup (2000m) at Turffontein at high altitude, where he bravely gave the winner, the reopposing Atticus Finch 13lb, and was only beaten two and a half lengths into fifth spot.

If See it Again is revived in time for Saturday’s contest at Kenilworth, then he will be a major player. However, should he under-perform again, then the race is there to be won by emerging three-year-old challenger, Eight On Eighteen.

He has twice finished a length or two shy of One Stripe, the stand-out of his generation in South Africa, who has recently been sold in a private deal and is slated to be trained for turf races in America by Graham Motion.

In the G1 Cape Guineas (1600m), Justin Snaith’s charge Eight On Eighteen produced similar 800m and 400m finishing sectionals to One Stripe before succumbing by one and a quarter-lengths.  Building on that level of performance while carrying just 119lb would make him mighty dangerous against older foes conceding around 13lb.

His jockey Richard Fourie, familiar to Hong Kong fans from a most successful stint in 2013, feels the son of Lancaster Bomber will have no problem handling the extra 400m.

If his mount is indeed nearly as good as One Stripe and sees it out fine, then Eight On Eighteen could well justify heavy market support from opening bids of 12/1 down to current quotes of 3/1 in South Africa.

There is a lone filly in the race, Red Palace, who figures to work out a smooth commute from barrier one, stalking the pace along the inside rail. She ran a fine second in the G1 Paddock Stakes (1800m) when done for finishing speed by Double Grand Slam and though she has been impressing astute trainer Dean Kannemeyer with sharp workouts, it remains to be seen if her overall form stacks up quite strongly enough.

The older male entries are tightly matched on ability figures and seem to take turns beating each other. Oriental Charm won the G1 Durban July (2200m) in a perfectly judged front-running ride but will face more pace pressure here. On collateral form, he has a similar ability rating to Royal Aussie, who might be at his absolute best up to a mile.

Montien emerged with great credit when holding second behind One Stripe in the King’s Plate after racing handy from a wide gate, but he must again get over from draw 15. Piet Botha’s aptly-named Dare to Dream Racing Stables has a seriously live Met contender.

Rascallion, second in the Met last year and the winner of three feature races from his last four starts is an admirable, high-class stalwart for a confident Vaughan Marshall, who knows what it takes to win this race. Rascallion will run his heart out as always but lengthens stride rather than quickens so needs everything to fall into place perfectly. Drawing gate 16 complicated matters.

Magic Verse has a similar shake to Rascallion on their recent G2 Premier Trophy (1800m) clash though the horse to take out of that showdown is probably Future Swing, held tight at a crucial stage under Oisin Murphy, then finishing sharply about one and a quarter-lengths off.

He was surrounded in close proximity by re-opposing pace-setter Litigation; temperamental deep-closer, Pacaya; a resurgent Zapatillas and another on-pace runner, Baratheon.

Andre Nel has been striving diligently to remedy top quality stayer Master Redoute’s foot issues, hence no build up races as intended.

Al Muthana, who caused an 80/1 boil-over in the 2023 King’s Plate when downing champion miler Charles Dickens, has been off beat for some time and needs to shine up.

The 2025 Cape Town Met promises to be an exciting spectacle and World Pool punters have big incentives to solve the handicapping puzzle.