Picture: Charles Dickens staves off Gimme A Prince (far side) in the Gr 3 Hollywoodbets Matchem Stakes (Picture: Wayne Marks)
The four-year-old Charles Dickens beat five-year-old Gimme A Prince by 0,30 lengths in the Gr 3 Hollywoodbets Matchem Stakes over 1400m at Hollywoodbets Durbanville on Saturday, but respected racing analyst Karel Miedema has awarded Charles Dickens a 113 ability rating for the effort and Gimme A Prince 114.
It can be surmised Miedema does not agree with the South African weight for age scale, which gives four-year-olds half-a-kilogram over 1400m from August right through to October.
Charles Dickens therefore carried half-a-kilogram less than Gimme A Prince on Saturday.
The British weight for age scale does not give four-year-olds any weight at any stage of the season over seven furlongs.
In fact the only distance over which four-year-olds will get weight as late as the third month of the season is over eleven furlongs.
One can only assume Miedema did not believe Charles Dickens deserved to receive half-a-kilogram on Saturday.
However, the highest ability rating Miedema has awarded Charles Dickens in his career is 117 for his Hollywoodbets Gold Challenge run, while his highest for Gimme A Prince is 114, which he has awarded him twice (the other one being for his Golden Horse Sprint victory).
However, that was only the third highest rating he awarded during last season, the highest being 120 for See It Again for his Hollywoodbets Durban July run and Al Muthana 119 for his L’Ormarins King’s Plaste victory.
Meanwhile, Miedema awarded Main Defender a 106 ability rating for his 6,5 length annihilations of the opposition in the Betway Jo’Burg Spring Challenge. This can be compared to the 109 he gave Charles Dickens in October last year for his three length Gr 3 Cape Classic win.
