Futura landed his second successive G1 win at Kenilworth on Saturday with a comprehensive win in the prestigious J&B Met.
The son of Dynasty won the G1 L'Ormarins Queen's Plate over 1500m on Januray 10 and had no trouble coping with the step up to 2000m in the Met.
Following the withdrawal of South Africa's reigning Horse of the Year Legislate, the betting was dominated by Futura and Triple Crown winner Louis the King.
The Brett Crawford-trained Futura was allowed to settle midfield before jockey Bernard Fayd'Herbe asked his charge to quicken at the 250m. The bay produced a devastating turn of foot to split Punta Arenas and the struggling Louis the King and go on to an easy 2 1/4-length win.
The late closing Gold Onyx finishd second ahead of Helderberg Blue with Louis The King tiring to finish sixth.
"This horse has done everything right," said Crawford, who won his first Met in 2003 with Angus.
"It’s his third Group 1 win (and seventh overall in 11 starts. These horses don't come by often in our lifetimes.”
"I'm not sure where he goes now. The way they have changed the conditions of the Durban July it is not easy for a good horse.
“We will have to sit down and discuss things."Futura is owned by John Freeman, Jack Mitchell, and Ian Longmore. The latter pair raced multiple G1 winner Jackson, the beaten favourite in the last two editions of the Met.
It was a third Met win for Fayd'Herbe, who rode Pocket Power to wins in 2008 and 2009.
Trainer Geoff Woodruff said Louis The King will go back to Johannesburg for the big races there.
In The G1 Investec Cape Derby the hot favourite Act Of War left punters stunned when slammed by nearly five lengths by the Mike De Kock-trained Ertijaal.
Angus Gold, representing owner Sheikh Hamdan, disclosed that the homebred winner nearly died as a yearling.
"He had colic, we had to open him up and it was touch and go whether he would survive,”Gold said. “To win a Derby 18 months later is quite something."
Matthew de Kock, representing his father, said that the unbeaten colt will go for the SA Classic on March 28 and then the SA Derby four weeks later.
Act Of War went off the 1-3 favourite but quickly came under pressure and in the end it was all he could do to hold on to second.
Trainer Joey Ramsden said Act Of War was stressed after the race.
"Act Of War is a very tired horse and blowing hard,” Ramsden reported.
“This wasn't his run. He emptied out too quickly and he finished in a heap with horses rated far below him."
The G1 Klawervlei Majorca Stakes was won by the Mike Bass-trained Inara for her second G1 win in three weeks.
"It’s a great feat to win two Group 1s in three weeks. There is now talk of her going overseas,” Bass said.
The three-year-old's win in the Paddock Stakes at her previous start qualified her for entry in the Breeders' Cup.
