Merit Rating Updates After MWOS Gold Cup Day

Mercury Sprint (Grade 1) 

CAPTAIN’S RANSOM remains unchanged on a rating of 124 following her success on WFA terms in the Grade 1 Mercury Sprint over 1200m on the turf course at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Saturday 30 July.  The Handicappers were of the view that 4^th placed GALLIC PRINCESS made for the most suitable line horse, which leaves her unchanged on a mark of 115.  In assessing the race this way, CAPTAIN’S RANSOM only runs to a mark of 121, hence her unaltered rating.

There were ratings increases for runner-up WILLIAM ROBERTSON, who was elevated from 117 to 125, and for GOOD TRAVELLER, who was raised from 118 to 120.

There were no other ratings increases, but two horses were given a drop.  BOHICA is down from 125 to 122, while BATTLE FORCE goes from 118 to 116.

HKJC World Pool Champions Cup (Grade 1) 

South Africa’s highest rated performer JET DARK remains unchanged on a rating of 130 following his triumph for a second successive year in the HKJC World Pool Champions Cup on WFA terms over 1800m at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Saturday. JET DARK was rated 130 after winning the 2021 Queen’s Plate in his seventh career start as a four-time winning 3-year-old and has consistently performed to that level, accordingly it was JET DARK who was used as the line horse when assessing this race, which is the reason for his unaltered rating.

There were increases for runner-up KOMMETDIEDING, who goes up slightly from 128 to 129, and for 3^rd finisher ASTRIX, who was raised from 122 to 125.

Four horses were given a rating’s drop.  LINEBACKER was dropped from 125 to 124, RUSSIAN ROCK is down from 120 to 118, FIREALLEY drops to 110 from 112, and lastly CROWN TOWERS is down to 113 from 115.

Gold Bracelet (Grade 2) 

MARINA remains unchanged on a mark of 117 following her win in the Grade 2 Gold Bracelet for fillies and mares over 2000 at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Saturday.  The Handicappers were of the view that 4^th placed SCENTED MISTRESS made for the most suitable line horse, which leaves her unchanged on a mark of 94.  In assessing the race this way, MARINA (who was very well in at the weights) only runs to a mark of 103, which is the reason for her unchanged rating.

There were ratings increases for runner-up FOLLOW THE STAR, who was raised from 93 to 99, and for ELECTRIC SURGE, who was picked up from 72 to 82.  ELECTRIC SURGE in fact runs to mark of 93, but given her overall record, the Handicappers were not willing to take this literally and effectively raised her by half of the achieved difference between her 72 rating and her ostensibly achieved 93.

There were ratings drops for two horses.  MONASHADA was dropped from 100 to 90, having now failed twice to confirm the big improvement she showed when finishing fourth in the Grade 1 Woolavington 2000 in May, while KAILENE was dropped from 106 to 102.

Marshalls World Of Sports Gold Cup (Grade 3) 

SHANGANI has had his rating raised slightly from 116 to 117 after his success in the Grade 3 Marshalls World Of Sport Gold Cup over 3200m at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Saturday.  In assessing the race, the Handicappers felt that the most suitable line horse to use was 4^th placed BLACK THORN to the actual 103 he achieved when winning the Grade 3 Gold Vase at the same venue four weeks earlier.  In terms of the conditions of that race, BLACK THORN could not be raised more than six pounds for winning, which capped his rating at 100, but there is no reason to doubt that he genuinely achieved a mark of 103 and consequently his rating has now been raised to 103 following the Gold Cup.

There were also ratings increases for 2^nd placed IMPERIAL RUBY, who is up from 104 to 107, and for 3^rd placed REX UNION, who goes up from 86 to 105.  REX UNION had run to a mark of 99 when finishing 2^nd behind BLACK THORN in the Gold Vase earlier in July, but the specific conditions of that event did not allow for a rating’s increase for any horse aside from the winner and so REX UNION had to be left untouched on a mark of 86 going into the Gold Cup. There were also increases for CHEWBACA, who goes up from 96 to 101, and for DECORATED, who was raised to 102 from 100.

Two horses were given a rating’s drop.  SMOKING HOT was trimmed from 100 to 99, while CRIMSON KING is down from 108 to 107.

Marshalls World Of Sport Darley Arabian (Handicap) (Listed) 

SILVANO’S TIMER has had his rating raised from 98 to 104 following his victory in the Listed Marshalls World Of Sport Darley Arabian (handicap) over 1600m on the Hollywoodbets Greyville polytrack on Saturday.  The Handicappers were of the unanimous view that 3^rd finisher INDLAMU made for the most suitable line horse, which leaves him unchanged on a mark of 99.

The winner aside, the only other ratings increase was for runner-up DONALD MCDONALD, who was raised from 101 to 105.

Four horses were given a rating’s drop.  4^th placed BOWIE is down from 98 to 97, REUNION was dropped to 104 from 105, CAT DADDY also drops from 105 to 104, and lastly SAVANNAH STORM drops from 93 to 91.

Marshalls World Of Sport Umngeni Handicap (Listed) 

ISIVUNGUVUNGU has had his rating raised from 103 to 110 following his fluent victory in the Listed Marshalls World Of Sport Umngeni Handicap over 1000m on the Polytrack at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Saturday.  Here it was runner-up VASEEM who was considered to make for the best line horse, which leaves him unchanged on a rating of 105.

The winner aside, the only other increase was for 3^rd placed WINTER FLIGHT, who was 2 pounds or 1 kg under sufferance at the weights and who goes up slightly from 90 to 91.  However, 5^th placed DANILO DANILOVICH had been raised from 98 to 99 following the publication of weights for this event and remains on a mark of 99.

Five horses were given a rating’s drop.  MOUNT PLEASANT is down from 104 to 103, ANNA CAPRI drops from 109 to 107, MR COBBS is down from 103 to 101, PRAY FOR RAIN goes from 107 to 104, and lastly GALLIC CHIEF was dropped from 104 to 102.