HANDICAPPING RATINGS UPDATE
- Lady’s Bracelet (Listed)
CHAT CHING remains unchanged on a rating of 107 following her win in the Listed Lady’s Bracelet for fillies and mares over 1600m on the turf course at Fairview on Friday 14 January. The Handicappers were of the view that runner-up VERONICA MARS made for the best line horse when assessing this event, leaving her unaltered on a rating of 99. In assessing the race this way, CHAT CHING only runs to a mark of 99, hence her unchanged rating.
3rd placed ENCRYPTION is up from 89 to 92, while the only other increase was for 4th finisher BLUE DUCHESS, who is up from 88 to 91. 5th placed PRINCESS KALISI was dropped from 95 to 91 to make her not higher than BLUE DUCHESS, and in fact ENCRYPTION, BLUE DUCHESS and PRINCESS KALISI would meet one another on the correct weight terms should they cross paths in a handicap race.
PRINCESS KALISI aside, there were drops for two other runners. COLORADO SPRINGS is down from 100 to 99, while BLOOM is down from 97 to 95.
- Swallow Stakes (Listed)
FREED FROM DESIRE has had her rating raised from 104 to 110 following her success in the Listed Swallow Stakes for three-year-old fillies over the straight 1160m course at Turffontein on Saturday 15 January. Here it was the ever-consistent 3rd finisher SUPREME QUEST who was used as the line horse, which leaves her rating unchanged on 102.
Runner-up BIG BURN has had her rating raised from 113 to 115, while the only other increase was for 4th placed REMEMBER WHEN, who goes up from 94 to 97. REMEMBER WHEN in fact ran to a rating of 100, but the Handicappers chose to exercise caution as she only beat two horses in a six-runner field and gave her half the achieved adjustment, 97 being halfway between her old mark of 94 and her achieved 100.
The only drop was for UNDER YOUR SPELL, who is down from 121 to 115 to make her not higher than BIG BURN, who has beaten UNDER YOUR SPELL twice from as many encounters this season.
- Michael Roberts Stakes (Listed)
GENTLEMAN’S WAGER has had his rating raised from 103 to 105 after his victory in the Listed Michael Roberts Stakes over 1750m at Scottsville on Sunday 16 January. The Handicappers were of the view that 3rd placed FIGHT SONG made for the most suitable line horse, which leaves him unchanged on a mark of 90.
The specific conditions of the race do not allow for an increase in the rating of any horse aside from the winner. Accordingly, runner-up SIR MICHAEL and 4th placed DECORATED remain on ratings of 90 and 81, respectively, despite actually achieving marks of 93 and 91, respectively.
There were however drops for no fewer than six horses. CAPOEIRA is down from 109 to 106, G G’S DYNASTY is down to 100 from 103, TREAD SWIFTLY is down slightly from 95 to 94, NEWS STREAM goes from 93 to 90, WEALTHY was trimmed from 91 to 90, and lastly SEA MASTER is down from 88 to 86.
(NHA Press Release)
