The Sun Met, formerly the J&B Met, has become a weight for age contest. The move that is somewhat historic allows for South Africa to have one of its top line events as a weight for age. 

The main reason for such events being historically handicap events is due to the competitive betting nature of the races with the draw and weights structure creating much controversy and hype. All adding to the excitmennot of the build up. This could work two ways for the race, one school of thought is that the race could be won before it has been contested due to the limited number for top quality horses in the country and the second school of thought is that the event will attract the best horses as trainers no longer need to protect horses in the lead up to the event in order to come into the race with the best weight. 

Either way, the race will lack in competitive betting as there will be stand out horses likely to win the event on form. Let's hope the move is a positive step and does the race justice. The purists will enjoy this weight for age contest, it's a matter of ecomomic sustainability that is the issue with regards to betting turnovers.