The 2026 WSB Cape Town Met run in 123 seconds was the fastest Met since One World’s 122.48 seconds of 2020 and the sectionals showed See It Again to simply be a superior horse (the race record of 122,1 seconds was set by Bunter Barlow in 2001).
See It Again did have some luck in running in terms of finding cover from a wide draw and Andrew Fortune did also have to make one particularly bold move, but the combination of luck and the sublime hands and riding skills of Fortune enabled See It Again to run a highly efficient race.
So, before analysing the 2026 WSB Met sectionals let’s just look briefly at the running order.
Okavango was the early pacemaker before The Equator took it up just as they entered the first turn.
Next best was Legal Counsel and then Native Ruler who was caught wide.
Behind that was Sail The Seas and Eight On Eighteen was on the rail inside of the latter.
See It Again was three wide down the back straight, but fortunately Native Ruler had been kept wide and he was able to follow him.
When Native Ruler managed to get into a two wide position alongside Regal Counsel rounding the turn See It Again looked likely to be caught wide, but instead Fortune made a split second decision to slot in behind Sail The Seas, a bold move that he pulled off, although some would argue that he was not sufficiently clear of Garrix to have been allowed to do it.
The stipendiary stewards did not read the incident like that and they have the best angles and video clarity to view the race.
The probable reason they did not view it as a foul was because after See It Again began making the move Garrix was rousted, possibly with the intention of diving into a position ahead of Cosmic Speed and inside of See It Again, and he cramped Cosmic Speed on his inside before being snatched up to avoid See It Again.
The Stipendiary report simply read: At the 1000m COSMIC SPEED (G Lerena) took an awkward stride when tightened for galloping room between the inside running rail and GARRIX (K de Melo).
Behind Cosmic Speed was Gladatorian, who had jumped slowly and lost a length.
The Real Prince was sitting in last place and Craig Zackey had possibly read it correctly, because the sectionals had been fast.
Using raceform.co.za’s sectional timing method of viewing each sectional as a percentage of the average speed for that section, Okavango did the first sectional in 116% and followed with fast sectionals of 90%, 90% and 91%, which took him to the 1200m mark.
With The Equator in front it slowed down either by accident or design as Okavango’s next three sectionals were 96%, 98% and 96%, which took them to the 600m mark.
If Callan Murray’s role on Okavango had been to set a pace for both See It Again and Eight On Eighteen, who are from the same Snaith yard and under the same Nick Jonsson ownership, then he had done a fine job as he had gone fast enough early to ensure that stamina was going to be one of the chief credentials required in the run in, and he had not gone so fast that any of the others could afford to ignore him and dictate their own pace.
This was unlike the Hollywoodbets Durban July in which they had gone at a crawl, and it had thus favoured a handy horse who stayed well enough but who also had sprinting speed – the requirement on that occasion was a better fit for The Real Prince than it was for Eight On Eighteeen, especially at the weights.
It was also unlike the L’Ormarins King’s Plate in which the pacemaker Dave The King had gone so fast that he and those who had followed him, like Jan Van Goyen and Legal Counsel, were sitting ducks for the class acts in the field.
So the race had set up nicely for See It Again and Eight On Eighteen, because if at their best they were going to stay on and they were ahead of The Real Prince, who was going to also stay on but he was a) not going to have so much in reserve like he did in the July that he was going to be able to outsprint the main opposition b) none of those who were going to see it out had gone too fast, which was what Zackey might have been hoping for by sitting last. It had been panning out well for him until The Equator scuppered it by taking it up and not being able to go fast enough.
The one danger which did come into play for See It Again and Eight On Eighteen was Legal Counsel.
His sectionals in the L’Ormarins King’s Plate from the 1400m onward had been 90, 95, 93, 91, 90, 98, 106, showing that he had gone too fast, yet he had stayed on remarkably well and had finished 4,65 lengths ahead of Jan Van Goyen, who had gone the same pace as him.
If he stayed the Met trip Legal Counsel was going to possibly be a threat from his handy third place in the running.
The runners’ final three sectionals and a comment are shown below:
See It Again 93%, 93%, 99% – Andrew Fortune had given him a sublime ride in the running and was thus able to remain as cool as a cucumber in the straight, steering his mount away from a hanging out Legal Counsel and calmly changing whiphands at about the 200m mark, because he was on a superior horse who was still full of running at the line.
Legal Counsel 95%, 95%, 101% – he has the loping stride of a stayer and was still in the hands at the 400m, but when driven from the 300m he could not match See It Again.
The Real Prince 92%, 93%, 99%. – The Real Prince’s 400m to 200m sectional at 93% is the biggest question of the race. Could he have done it quicker had he not had to switch inward to get around the slowing clump of Eight On Eighteen, Sail The Seas and Okavango. He also had to be patient waiting for a gap to open and it only opened just after the 200m mark.
However, those who believe The Real Prince would have won had he not had the aforementioned traffic problems between the 400m and 200m marks would have to absorb the fact that his final 200m sectional was done at 99%, the same speed as See It Again’s. It would surely have been faster had he been held up severely enough to have affected the result, because it would have effectively given him a breather. See It Again did win with something in hand too and Craig Zackey admitted in a quick interview after the race that The Real Prince had had enough by the final 100m.
Okavango – 95%, 98%, 103% – he was threatening to be swamped but plugged on gamely for fourth. He did benefit from a few horses not seeing out the trip and from one or two being below par or unlucky on the day.
Native Ruler – 95, 96, 103 – being caught wide in the running blunted his finishing speed. He ran a fine race considering how it panned out for him and he might be a big runner in the Hollywoodbets Durban July.
Garrix – 92%, 95%, 103 – made some inroads, but had to go around The Equator and was losing ground to See It Again by then anyway. He probably prefers shorter and has questionable stamina.
Gladatorian – 93, 95, 102 – his finishing speed in three runs at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth has never got close to his career best. He will be glad to soon be home in KZN.
Eight On Eighteen 95, 95, 105 – briefly headed Okavango but was relatively sluggish and way below his best.
Sail The Seas 94, 96, 105 – went for a difficult gap between Okavango and Eight On Eighteen that never fully opened, but he also failed to build up enough momentum and perhaps does not stay. After all, his Cape Derby second was run in a very slow time of 126,20 seconds.
Cosmic Speed 93, 96, 109, was cramped 1000m from home and the jockey said he was never in contention thereafter, but he probably did not stay either.
The Equator got his tongue over the bit and ended up tailed off.
