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Jackson, officially rated the the best horse in South Africa, is going to have a late start to his season and will not reappear until the Diadem Stakes at Kenilworth on December 28.
Trainer Brett Crawford said Jackson, who holds a merit rating of 124, will be restricted to only three races during the Cape summer season.
“After the way his prep and his campaign went in Durban, we feel that we should do much the same and we have decided that he will only have three races during the summer.
“After the Diadem he will run in the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate on January 11 and then the J & B Met three weeks later.”
Jackson, last year’s Investec Cape Derby and Daily News winner, finished second to Variety Club in last season’s Queen’s Plate and then finished fifth as favourite in the Met but was later found to be suffering from stomach ulcers.
He bounced back to his best with an impressive display in the Champions Cup at Greyville at the end of July.
This will probably be the five-year-old’s last season before he is retired to stud.
Meanwhile trainer Dean Kannemeyer has confirmed that his stable star Capetown Noir will more than likely run in the Green Point Stakes and the Queen’s Plate leading into the Met following his facile first-up win in the G3 Matchem Stakes at Durbanville on October 5.
Capetown Noir put behind him a frustrating KZN Champions Season at Greyville, where he was narrowly beaten in the KRA Guineas and Daily News 2000, with an effortless four lengths victory.
“It may well be that he just prefers the left handed tracks down in the Cape,” Kannmemeyer said.
“He will get the 2000m of the Met with ease. Of that I have absolutely no doubt.”
Kannemeyer says he has a strong team lined up for the Cape Summer Of Champions.
“We don’t have the numbers, the Kannemeyer yard never has, but we have quality,” he said.
Kannemeyer has a number of classic candidates including Power King, Speed Rocket and Sir Duke, that could further enhance his peerless record in the Cape Guineas and other three-year-old features.
