The NHA have published their weekend report on their merit rating assessments.
- World Sports Betting Greyville 1900 (Grade 2)
Not one change was made to the rating of any of the 12 horses which contested the World Sports Betting Greyville 1900 (Grade 2) on Saturday, 18 May. The Handicappers’ assessment of the various contestants proved to be well justified as the winner EYES WIDE OPEN, runner-up MAGNIFICENT SEVEN and third placed MADE TO CONQUER all ran to their respective ratings and as such all three of them can be considered to have been line horses. DAWN ASSAULT, who finished ninth, as it happens also ran to his rating.
Fourth placed FRESNAYE raced off a rating of 108, but her mark had already been dropped to 104 following the publication of the weights for the Greyville 1900. This was a consequence of the weights for the WSB Greyville 1900 being issued at first entry rather than supplementary entry stage in terms of the WSB Greyville 1900’s published Conditions. She ran to within a pound of her new rating when achieving 103 and was left unchanged. DOOSRA also ran just one pound below his rating and was also left unchanged. The same is also true of DOUBLEMINT.
- East Coast Cup (Listed)
ROY’S RIVIERA was raised from 95 to 97 following her win in the East Coast Cup (Listed) for fillies and mares over 2000m at Greyville on Saturday. The Handicappers felt that she would not have run worse here than when she achieved a mark of 97 in winning an off-season pinnacle plate last October and accordingly used that performance to rate this event. Furthermore, ROY’S RIVIERA runs to the same net 97 as when she was beaten less than one length behind MYABI GOLD in the Grade 2 Gold Bracelet over the same course-and-distance last July, which appeals to the Handicappers as being a very similar performance to this.
The specific conditions of the East Coast Cup state that the rating of placed horses cannot be picked up and accordingly second placed PERFECT AIR and fourth placed SNAPSCAN remain on 74 and 81 respectively despite actually achieving marks of 81 and 85 respectively. Third placed MIYABI GOLD was left unchanged given that she had won the Listed Scarlet Lady in her most recent start.
A number of horses had their ratings dropped, however. SABINA’S DYNASTY was trimmed from 106 to 105 to make her not higher than MIYABI GOLD, who had also beaten her in their last encounter in the SCARLET LADY. EXPEDITE was dropped from 87 to 86, LUNA CHILD goes from 88 to 85, DYNASTY’S BLOSSOM drops from 95 to 93, WOODSTOCK FAIRY goes down from 71 to 70, and PARABOLA sees her rating cut from 78 to 75.
- Syringa Handicap (Listed)
The Listed Syringa Handicap for fillies and mares over 1600m on the Turffontein inside track on Sunday, 19 May have produced something of a Handicapper’s dream finish when less than one length covered the first four to finish and four lengths covered the first 12 to finish in a 14 runner field.
Given the close nature of the finish, the winner BEING FABULOUS received the minimum 2-pound adjustment that the winner of any handicap race must get and was raised from 87 to 89. The placed runners BULLSADE, PENNY ROYAL and REGAL GRADUATION can be considered to be line horses and all three of their ratings remained unchanged.
Several of the unplaced horses saw a drop in their rating, however. ROUGE ALLURE goes from 90 to 88, while ROCKIN RUSSIAN had already been dropped from 83 to 79 after the weights were published and actually ran to 79 in the Syringa, so she remains on that mark. This was a consequence of the weights for the Syringa being issued at first entry rather than supplementary entry stage in terms of the Syringa Handicap’s published conditions. EMILY JAY was dropped from 89 to 86, ANNEKA was dropped from 86 to 84 and FOLK DANCE was trimmed to 92 from 93.
- The National Horseracing Authority Roadshow Continues:
Please note that the NHA Handicapping Panel, Mr Lennon Maharaj, Mr Matthew Lips and Chief Executive of the NHA, Mr Vee Moodley, will be in attendance at Greyville Racecourse on 1 June 2019.
The following will be discussed:
Handicapping Methodology – in Brief
Handicappers to rate the Daily News 2000 in view of attendees
Discuss the proposed adjustment of the national horse population
Questions and Answers
Venue : Classic Room – Greyville Racecourse
Start : 16h45
All welcome to attend.
