HANDICAPPING RATINGS UPDATE

HANDICAPPING RATINGS UPDATE

• Joburg Spring Challenge (Grade 2)

MK’S PRIDE remains unchanged on a rating of 120 following his win in the Grade 2 Joburg Spring Challenge over 1450m on the Turffontein inside track on Sunday 3 October. The race, originally scheduled for the previous day, was postponed by 24 hours owing to inclement weather. It was MK’S PRIDE himself who was considered to make for the most suitable line horse, hence his unchanged rating.

The specific conditions of the race do not allow for an increase to the rating of any horse beyond the winner, and so runner-up BINGWA remains on 111 despite running to a mark of 117. However, there were ratings’ drops for three horses. CHIJMES is down from 110 to 108, EXPRESSFROMTHEUS drops from 122 to 118, and lastly TIERRA DEL FUEGO was cut from 114 to 110.


• Joburg Spring F&M Challenge (Grade 2)

BIG BURN has had her rating raised from 108 to 110 following victory in the Grade 2 Joburg Spring F&M Challenge over the inside track 1450m at Turffontein on Sunday. It was 4th placed MISS ELEGANCE who was used as the line horse here, leaving her unchanged on a rating of 102.

Aside from the winner, no changes were made to the rating of any horse which took part in this event.


• #ThisIsRacing Matchem Stakes (Grade 3)

SEEKING THE STARS remains unchanged on a rating of 121 after he captured the Grade 3 #ThisIsRacing Matchem Stakes over 1400m at Durbanville on Saturday. It was 5th placed WILD COAST – who was unbeaten from three previous career visits to Durbanville – who was used as the line horse here, leaving him unaltered on a mark of 107. In assessing the race this way, SEEKING THE STARS only runs to a mark of 119, hence his unaltered rating.

The specific race conditions do not allow for any increase to the rating of any horse beyond the winner, and so runner-up SILVER OPERATOR remains unchanged on 114 despite running to a mark of 116, while 3rd finisher COSMIC HIGHWAY has to remain on 108 despite running to 113, but there were drops for two horses. SEVENTH GEAR was trimmed from 101 to 100, while SNOW REPORT is down to 104 from 105.


• Diana Stakes (Grade 3)

CAPTAIN’S RANSOM remains unaltered on a mark of 126 following her success in the Grade 3 Diana Stakes for fillies and mares over 1400m at Durbanville on Saturday. It was runner-up MAJOR ATTRACTION who was used as the line horse, leaving her unchanged on a mark of 100.

The specific conditions of the race do not allow for any increase to the rating of any horse beyond the winner. However, 3rd placed MARMALISA had her rating raised from 96 to 97 after the publication of weights for this race and remains on 97 even though she raced off a mark of 96 in the Diana Stakes.

There were no ratings drops as a result of this event.

Enquiries:
The Handicapping Team

So the Joburg races, horses can't increase but they can be dropped?

Can't see any logic in that?

The handicutioners have turned themselves into pretzels trying to make this handicap system work with so few horses in training.