Jockey Anton Marcus gave Hill Fifty Four a superb front-running ride to win the R2.5 million J&B Met at Kenilworth on Saturday for trainer Vaughan Marshall, the gelding going one better than last year when he finished second.

Hill Fifty Four was soon in front and while he drifted towards the outside rail in the straight, kicked away to beat Yorker with Puntas Arenas third.

Second to the outsider Martial Eagle in the 2013 race, the son of Captain Al ended a Met drought for Anton Marcus as it had been 21 years since the champion jockey first won the G1 race in 1993 aboard Empress Club.

Hill Fifty Four is raced by Markus and Ingrid Jooste and his win broke their Met jinx after four previous second placings. The winning owners also have shares in the second placed Yorker and fourth placed Whiteline Fever.

For trainer Vaughan Marshall, Hill Fifty Four was his second Met winner after La Fabulous in 1996 and a personal triumph after bringing Hi Fifty Four back from the bleeding attack he suffered in last year's Durban July.

"To train this horse to win the Met is very special, having trained his sire to win the Guineas,” Marshall said.

"Everything went according to plan. We planned his campaign and it worked out really well.

“Anton is a great rider from the front and we just had to take that chance."

Hill Fifty Four has now won 7 races with 7 places from his 19 starts and more than doubled his stakes earnings to a healthy R2,654,310.

His previous biggest win was the G2 Peninsula Handicap.

The favourite Master Of My Fate failed to fire but he returned with a wound on the left front heel while the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate winner Capetown Noir could not get in to his preferred position on the rail and his usual kick did not materialise.

Jackson once again disappointed his legion of followers but he returned distressed and the stewards ordered that he undergo a vet examination.