Saturday’s feature race action from Turffontein has been assessed by the NHA Handicappers.
Mighty High wins the feature (Pic -JC Photos)
- Gr2 Senor Santa Stakes
MIGHTY HIGH’s rating remains unchanged on 108 after she captured the Gr2 Senor Santa Stakes over 1160m on the Turffontein straight course on Saturday.
The Handicappers were of the view that fourth placed WARRIOR’S REST and fifth finisher ROMI’S BOY were the most suitable line horses to use in assessing this race and as such they remain unchanged on 113 and 105, respectively.
In rating the race this way, MIGHTY HIGH which was rated to win at these weight terms, remains unchanged on 108.
Runner-up MR FLOOD also remains unaltered on 120 – and in fact only one change was made to any rating in the entire field, with RIVARINE dropping slightly from 109 to 108.
- Listed Derby Trial (Handicap)
CHRISTOPHER ROBIN has had his rating upped from 83 to 89 following his fluent success in the Listed Derby Trial (handicap) for three-year-olds over 2000m at Turffontein on Saturday.
Third placed OUR MAN IN HAVANA was used as the line horse and accordingly remains unchanged on 88.However, runner-up NEBRAAS is up from 83 to 84.
There were no other increases out of this race, but three horses received a rating’s drop – CAPETOWN AFFAIR drops from 76 to 75, MAGIC VISION is down from 75 to 72, and BANHA BRIDGE goes from 85 to 84.
- Ormond Ferraris Listed Oaks Trial (Handicap)
FAYROOZ has seen her rating adjusted from 74 to 89 after she easily beat her rivals to win the Listed Ormond Ferraris Oaks Trial for three-year-old fillies on handicap terms over 2000m at Turffontein on Saturday.
FAYROOZ was making her handicap debut here after winning a maiden plate in her most recent start, and she was only having the fourth outing of her career, so she certainly appears to be a very progressive filly.
Third placed IRISH DAME was deemed highly unlikely to have run below her rating in a race of this calibre and was accordingly used as the line horse.
Her rating thus remains unchanged on 77, but runner-up SMOKING HOT was raised from 76 to 81.
Aside from the winner and runner-up, there were no ratings changes (either upwards or downwards) for any runner in this race as every one of them was a winner within their last three outings.
- Listed Bauhinia Handicap
SINGFORAFA has had her rating upped from 111 to 116 after she narrowly got the better of CHE BELLA to win the Listed Bauhinia Handicap for fillies and mares over 1000m at Turffontein on Saturday. Third placed GREEN PLAINS and fourth placed MADEMOISELLE were both used as line horses and therefore their ratings remain unaltered on 103 and 88, respectively. CHE BELLA, however, is up from 101 to 105.
In assessing this race, the Handicappers exercised considerable caution and picked up neither the winner nor the runner-up to their actual achieved marks.
It was taken into account when allocating new ratings to the pair that both fillies have run well above their profiles in the Bauhinia Handicap which may be attributed to the underfoot conditions on the day. It was therefore deemed prudent to only apply half the adjustment to the first two.
There were no other increases, but several horses were given a ratings drop – TRUE CHARM is down from 100 to 98, NICKY NOO goes from 99 to 97, LESEDI LA RONA drops from 97 to 94, POOL PARTY was cut from 100 to 98, CAPITIANA is down to 88 from 90, ULLA drops from 98 to 96, and DALAI’S PROMISE was cut from 100 to 97.
NAWAASI, who raced off a 90 here, had in fact been dropped to 88 subsequent to the publication of the weights for this event and was not given a further reduction as a result of this race.
- Press release issued by NHA on Monday 16 March 2020
