Jackson, who is a narrow second favourite for the Investec Cape Derby over 2000m on J&B Met day at Kenilworth on Saturday, put up an awesome gallop over 800m on the light sand at Philippi yesterday (Monday) under the watchful eye of Brett Crawford, who is in the middle of a rich vein of feature race form, writes David Thieselton.

Jackson has an enormous stride and was a length clear of the 1800m Grade 2 Peninsula Handicap winner Polar Bound as he stretched past under big race jockey Karis Teetan.

Crawford said about the impressive Dynasty colt, who was a comfortable winner of the Listed Politician Stakes over 1800m in his last start, “He’s very good. This is a step up and his first time against big horses, but he’s done nothing wrong and will go the trip.”

Crawford added that for a colt Jackson had a “wonderful temperament.”

He also had a word of caution, “If the handicapper is right and Variety Club stays the trip, none of us have a chance.”

However, Jackson looks to be a horse who is better than his 102 merit rating and with one or two question marks over Variety Club’s stamina, he appears to be the choice of the most astute pundits.

He is drawn very well in three, although Variety Club also has a good draw of five.

Crawford also contests the Grade 1 Klawervlei Majorca Stakes over 1600m with the Silvano four-year-old filly Frequent Flyer.

He said, “She’s very consistent, so what you see it what you get with her. We’ve put her in to try and get some black type and if we get more than that we will be over the moon.”

Polar Bound, a four-year-old Western Winter gelding who has won his last three starts, contests the fourth, a MR 103 Handicap over 1600m and Crawford said, “He has always been a nice horse, he just needed time to strengthen. We’ve also taught him how to race as he used to pull a lot. I think he is still progressive, although this will be a test for him with his merit rating having been raised to 100 (from 96).”

Crawford’s final runner on the day is Meringue, a four-year-old Camden Park filly, who contests the ninth, a MR84 Handicap over 2000m.

He said, “She has a lot of aches and pains, but she is doing well at the moment and ran a good race last time, so hopefully she can keep her form.

The Crawford and Teetan combination have scored four wins and a second in the last five feature races they have contested at Kenilworth and Jackson has every chance of giving the yard their second Grade 1 winner of the Cape Sizzling Summer Season.