The NHRA handicappers have published their assessments after the big weekend at Kenilworth.
- World Sports Betting Cape Fillies Guineas (Grade 1)
MISSISSIPPI BURNING has seen her merit rating climb from 97 to 116 after she ran out an easy winner of the WSB Cape Fillies Guineas over 1600m at Kenilworth (summer course) on Saturday 14th December.
This was her first try at 1600m and she handled the step up in distance with great ease. Here, third placed THIRD RUNWAY was deemed to be the correct line horse by the Handicappers and as such, her rating remains unchanged on 109.
Missisippi Burning goes to a 116 (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
Runner-up DRIVING MISS DAISY has gone up from 104 to 110, while 4th placed LARENTINA goes up from 103 to 107. 5th placed DRAMA QUEEN and 6th placed KELPIE both go up to 105, from 95 and 99 respectively. There was just 0.30 lengths between them, and it was felt appropriate to rate them as equals as a result. The only drop was made to the rating of ROLL IN THE HAY, who goes from 102 to 100.
- World Sports Betting Southern Cross Stakes (Grade 2)
Undefeated RUN FOX RUN has had her rating upped from 114 to 122 after she returned from an absence of more than six months to impressively win the Grade 2 Southern Cross Stakes for fillies and mares over the Kenilworth 1000m on Saturday. Runner-up PRINCESS REBEL (herself an easy winner of this race twelve months ago) was used as the line horse and as such her rating remains unchanged on 119.
The winner aside, the only change made to the rating of any horse in this event was to 3rd placed CELESTIAL STORM, who goes up from 104 to 110. In fact, with the race rated the way it is, CELESTIAL STORM actually achieves a mark of 116, but it was felt that this was completely out of sync with anything she has previously achieved, so plenty of caution was applied and she was given a rating of 110 to make her higher than 4th placed CANUKEEPITSECRET, who remains on 109.
- World Sports Betting Green Point Stakes (Grade 2)
VARDY reaffirmed the Handicapper’s assessment of the Cape Classic when confirming his superiority over ONE WORLD in winning the WSB Green Point Stakes after he returned from an absence of more than six months. His rating remains unchanged on 128. Runner-up ONE WORLD, who finished 2nd behind VARDY in the Grade 3 Winter Classic back in May, was used as the line horse here and also remains unchanged on 127.
4th placed PACK LEADER goes up from 114 to 116, while UNDERCOVER AGENT drops from 130 to 127 and HEAD HONCHO is down from 129 to 126, ensuring that both of these two are rated lower than the winner. No other changes were made in this race.
- World Sports Betting Cape Summer Stayers Handicap (Grade 3)
DHARMA has had his rating increased from 98 to 101 after he was given a very enterprising ride in a slow-run race to win the WSB Cape Summer Stayers Handicap over 2500m at Kenilworth on Saturday.
Here, it was 3rd placed GIMME ONE NIGHT, winner of this race in 2018, who was used as the line horse and his mark remains unchanged on 103. 4th placed CAT DADDY and 5th finisher HERODOTUS also run to their marks and effectively become line horses as well.
Runner-up CROME YELLOW goes up from 98 to 100, while 6th placed SAINT WEST (who was 4.5 kgs under sufferance at the weights) was given a partial increase from 89 to 92. Two horses were given a ratings drop, with CELESTIAL PRINCE going from 90 to 87 and DUCHESS OF BOURBON from 101 to 99.
- CTS Ready To Run Stakes (Non-Black Type)
PURE STATE has seen his rating jump from 89 to 106 after he made much of the running to win the valuable CTS Ready To Run Stakes over 1400m at Kenilworth on Saturday.
3rd placed INVIDIA was considered to be the right line horse to use in assessing this three-year-old’s race and accordingly, his rating remains unchanged on 104, but runner-up RIO QUERARI goes up from 95 to 105.
In contrast, 4th placed ROCK THE GLOBE had his rating trimmed and he drops from 106 to 104, in the belief that his rating should not be higher than INVIDIA’S. 5th placed INVISIBLE goes up from 93 to 95, while 6th placed OVER THE ODDS, who was taking a huge drop in distance after winning a 2400m maiden race last time out, was raised from 86 to 92. Three other horses had their ratings dropped. TIGER’S ROCK is down from 91 to 89, FREEDOM OF SPEECH goes from 85 to 83, and CAPE OF STORMS drops to 79 from 81
