The J&B Met held his own as the second best race in the country, far ahead of everything else including Gauteng's Summer Cup, the King himself, 'The July' and at one time the rather underwhelming Queens Plate, until the sponsor revival.

The Sun Met came into being after the sponsor change and the spelt the end of an era and the race day as we knew it. It was a shadow of its former self with the show and the crowd dwindling into a non event in relation to what it was as near as ten years ago. Sadly the state of South Africa and the collapse of Phumelela didn't do it any favours, and, to be fair, neither did the economy.

All valid and good excuses but the Met for the first time since one can remember, goes unsponsored. It's place as the jewel in Cape Racing's crown has been taken. Stolen, replaced and never recovered, the only thing remains is the hope of someone returning it to its rightful home.

That's no easy task and as the current crop of curators try to establish some semblance of the Met, it's nowhere near anything it was and has been going the wrong way for a long time. That's the negative.

The positive is that there is still a race. A reduced stakes race but great runners and quality in what is a small field for the premier race of the season. Full concentration was placed by many trainers on this race and many used the Queens Plate as a warm up, without declaring that publicly, of course. So one is bound to see some improvement or peaking of form in this event.

The usual debate in the shrinking media is about the runners and the 3 year old crop vs the older but this renewal has only two of that crop including a well weighted filly to boot. Quite sad. The fear of the handicapper strikes.

In all, the best wishes go out it the triers in Cape Racing and for the sake of South African racing, the start of a revival is keenly looked forward to.