The WSB Guineas had the field of a Grade 1 event on Saturday (Candiese Lenferna Photography).
The Grade 2 WSB Guineas felt like a true Grade 1 South African Guineas, which used to be its name, on Saturday with the best three-year-olds from around the country clashing.
However, a race has to surpass the standard of a Grade 2 for three consecutive years before it can be considered by the pattern committee for an upgrade.
4Racing have helped the cause by staging their Autumn season, which includes the WSB SA Triple Crown trio of races, earlier in the season.
Using 2017 and 2018 as examples the Grade 1 SA Classic was held on April 1 and April 7 respectively and the SA Derby was held on May 6 and May 5 respectively.
The WSB Guineas in those years was held on May 7 and My 4 respectively, so there was a clash with the Derby and the Classic runners did not have an ideal amount of time to freshen up.
This year the WSB SA Classic was run on March 6 and the SA Derby on April 1 while the WSB Guineas was on May 6.
That gave the SA Classic runners time to freshen up and tackle a new duo of classics, i.e. the WSB Guineas and Grade 1 Daily News 2000.
The SA Guineas was first run in 1947 and maintained Grade 1 status, whether retrospective or proper, until being changed to a Grade 2 in 2005.
Considering the quality of breeding in SA at present and the accommodating program there is no reason the WSB Guineas can not maintain the standard it achieved this year.
Charles Dickens joined a number of other greats as a winner of this race.
A clash between him and the 2012 winner Variety Club would have been something to behold. The latter had phenomenal gatespeed and that coupled with a good racing temperament enabled him to dictate. His exhilirating turn of foot meant he would only have been able to be overtaken by a horse with as phenomenal a turn of foot as Charles Dickens’.
Do It Again (2018), Legislate (2014) and Vercingetorix (2013) are other good winners from last decade and the previous decade included winners like Big City Life (2009), Dynasty (2003) and Celtic Grove (2001).
Others greats to have won the race are Empress Club (1992), Illustrador (1990), Royal Chalice (1988), Prince Florimund (1982), Politician (1977), Archangel (1975), Sabre (1973), Sentinel (1972), Mazarin (1971), Home Guard (1969), Hawaii (1968), Sea Cottage (1966) and William Penn (1965).
