R500 000 Stake – Only Six Runners Chase The Prize

Only six runners for Saturday’s opening feature of the Summer Festival Of Racing probably once again underlines the fear of connections of throwing a hopeful in at the proverbial deep end and risking career inhibiting merit rating penalties.

The R500 000 Gr2 Cape Punters Cup sets the tone as the big season gets underway and is a stepping stone into the R2 million Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas to be run at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on Saturday 14 December.

One Stripe – top class 3yo at short odds to win (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)

The Turf Talk website reports that the merit rating system works well in the UK and Ireland with its big horse populations, but one of the chief problems in applying it in South Africa is the lack of big money opportunities for horses who are just below the best.

In the UK there is a full programme of lucrative handicaps for horses who are not quite up to Group 1 or Group 2 class.

The nature of the very best racing in the UK, where the pace is usually genuine and the conditions, with undulating surfaces and thick grass, are testing, would also deem it unlikely that a horse who is not up to Group 1 class would fluke a close-up finish if a chance was taken entering an unknown quantity in such a race.

However, in South Africa the connections of a promising horse, due to the lack of other big money opportunities, might decide to enter such an unknown quantity in a Gr2 or Gr1 race and it could possibly end up having dire consequences for the horse’s career.

Such is the nature of South African racing, which tends to be crawl and sprint on relatively fast ground, that lesser horses have a very real chance of finishing relatively close to the winner in a Graded race.

With it comes a big raise in their merit ratings, despite possibly not having earned a cent in prize money.

The handicappers face a big problem in such an instance, because they are actually just applying the merit rating system correctly.

In the past there were guidelines put in place whereby horses who finished below a certain placing in certain Graded races would escape merit rating raises.

However, this led to the farcical situation whereby the horse who for example finished sixth in the Met, a short-head behind the fifth-placed horse, would then receive lumps of weight from the latter when next meeting in a handicap.

Some races have operator conditions which limit the merit rating raise amounts – for example the Gr 2 Betway Victory Moon Stakes and the Gr 3 Betway Graham Beck Stakes carry a maximum penalty of eight points for the winner and four points for placed horses.

This method can also lead to some future anomalies.

For example Back In Business was only allowed to be raised eight points when winning the Gr 2 Betway JoBurg Spring Challenge.

He had actually run to about 122 in the latter race but could only be raised to 114, so was effectively 4kg well in when running next in the Gr 2 Allied Steelrode Onamission Charity Mile, where he unfortunately dislodged his rider.

The one solution  for owners is simply to avoid the Graded races and allow the horse the opportunity to build up his or her merit rating through wins in minor handicap races.

This looks to be the route many connections are taking this season in Cape Racing’s Cape Summer Festival Of Racing.

For example, there are just six runners facing the starter in the Gr 2 Cape Punters on Saturday, not surprisingly with the 112 rated One Stripe involved.

The Gr 3 Cape Classic run in early November also only attracted seven runners.

The 92-rated Captain West finished a 1,85 length fifth in the latter race and was raised eleven points to 103.

In the Gr 2 Western Cape Fillies Championship the 89 rated Little Suzie finished a 1,60 length sixth out of 12 and was raised to 103. Polynomial finished fourth last in that race and was raised seven points to 97.

Small fields don’t necessarily make boring races, but the best scenario would be if there were six or seven top class runners facing each other. The Punters Cup does appear to host six quality runners, even if one of them, the Piet Steyn-trained Garrix, is only rated 87 at present.

It should be a cracking race despite the small field and the clash between One Stripe and one of his chief protagonists for the forthcoming Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas i.e. Eight On Eighteen, could potentially be the first clash of a memorable rivalry.

 www.turftalk.co.za