Following the running of last Saturday’s two Kenilworth features, the NHRA Handicappers have issued the merit ratings updates.
- Gr2 Western Cape Fillies Championship
PRINCESS CALLA has had her merit rating raised from 105 to 108 after she captured the Gr2 Western Cape Fillies Championship for three-year-old females over 1400m on the Kenilworth winter course on Saturday 24 October.
Princess Calla is led in after her smart win (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
The Handicappers were of the view that runner-up TRICKSTER made for the best line horse, given that she also finished behind PRINCESS CALLA in the Gr1 Thekwini Stakes won by ANYTHING GOES at Greyville in August.
Accordingly, TRICKSTER’s rating remains unchanged on 104.
3rd placed ZARINA was raised from 92 to 102, while 4th finisher LEMON DELIGHT was raised from 91 to 101.
In other increases, BALLROOM BLISS goes up from 81 to 96, VERONICA MARS is up from 88 to 95, while DAZZLING SUN and MARMALISA both go up to 88 from 86 and 83, respectively. This makes them equal to the 88-rated MAJOR ATTRACTION, who finished just behind the pair.
There were no ratings drops for any runners in this race.
It is worth noting that 3rd placed ZARINA and 4th placed LEMON DELIGHT actually ran to marks of 101 and 97 respectively in a Graduation Plate at Durbanville on 3 October.
The Handicappers were unable to assign those ratings at the time because of the restrictions in place as regards upwards adjustments in plate races, but had these two fillies been able to run off those marks in this Grade 2 event the four top rated horses would have occupied the first four places, in the correct order of ratings.
- Gr3 Cape Classic
SEEKING STARS has had his rating increased from 93 to 112 after he made most of the running at a solid pace and stayed on well to win the Gr3 Cape Classic for three-year-olds over 1400m at Kenilworth on Saturday.
In a race contested by some highly progressive types, the Handicappers used 4th placed SPEED MACHINE as the line horse and accordingly he remains unchanged on 100.
Runner-up LINEBACKER goes up from 93 to 109, while 3rd placed RASCALLION also goes to 109, from 100. The only other increase was for LOOK FOR HOUNDS, who goes up from 88 to 90 while the race’s solitary drop MASTER OF POWER was cut from 90 to 88.
It is interesting to observe that in this event the four best weighted horses filled the first four places, albeit not in the order of ratings.
- Media release by NHRA on Tuesday 27 October 2020
