WOA now 120

PRESS RELEASE

DOMESTIC RATINGS UPDATE

● London News Stakes (Grade 3)

RUNNING BRAVE remains unchanged on a mark of 119 after she captured the Grade 3 London News Stakes over 1800m on the standside track at Turffontein on Saturday 2 January. The handicappers were of the view that RUNNING BRAVE herself made for the best line horse when assessing this event, hence her unaltered rating.

Runner-up EXPRESSFROMTHEUS goes up from 113 to 118 and was the only horse from this race to receive a ratings increase, but there were drops for five runners. 4th placed CHIJMES is down from 120 to 118, DIVINE ODYSSEY drops from 117 to 114, ZILLZAAL goes from 120 to 118, CHITENGO is down from 110 to 105, and lastly, JET START from 109 to 108.

● Three Troikas Stakes (Grade 3)

WAR OF ATHENA has had her rating raised from 116 to 120 after she won the Grade 3 Three Troikas Stakes for three-year-old fillies over 1400m at Turffontein on Saturday. It was 3rd placed CARALLUMA who was used as the line horse, which leaves her on a mark of 103.

The handicappers elected to make the winner the equal of runner-up ANYTHING GOES, who was conceding WAR OF ATHENA 1 kg, was returning from a three-month absence, and raced with a slipped saddle. Given that ANYTHING GOES beat WAR OF ATHENA by a neck at level weights in the Grade 1 Thekwini Stakes at Greyville in August, it was felt that, all things considered, it was the fair option to have them rated as equals on 120 for the time being.

The only other change was for 4th placed SENTBYDESTINY, who drops from 113 to 111.

● Tony Ruffel Stakes (Grade 3)

CATCH TWENTYTWO remains unchanged on a rating of 116, after he got the better of stable companion MK’S PRIDE to win the Grade 3 Tony Ruffel Stakes over 1400m at Turffontein on Saturday. The handicappers believed that MK’S PRIDE made for the best line horse, which has CATCH TWENTYTWO running below his mark of 116, achieved when he beat MK’S PRIDE by a considerably bigger margin in the Grade 2 Dingaans over 1600m at the same venue in late November.

3rd placed COPPER MOUNTAIN is up from 100 to 109, while 4th finisher ELIUD is up from 93 to 102. The only other increase was for BARTHOLDI, who is up from 82 to 87. Two horses received a ratings drop. BINGWA is down from 111 to 106, while FLYING CARPET was dropped from 103 to 96.

● Lady’s Bracelet (Listed)

SOVEREIGN SECRET has seen her rating raised from 94 to 100, after she easily won the Listed Lady’s Bracelet for fillies and mares over 1600m on the Fairview turf course on Friday 1 January. Runner-up SAILING SHIP, who easily won a Listed race on the only other occasion that she raced on the Fairview grass, was used as the line horse and as such remains unchanged on 95.

3rd finisher WALLIS SIMPSON is up from 91 to 92, while CRUISE ALONG and BELL TOWER both go up from 82 to 85. No other horse was given an increase, but there were ratings drops for numerous horses.

PRINCESS KALISI is down from 95 to 94, LUNA WISH drops from 98 to 96, GIMME GIMME GIMME was trimmed from 89 to 88, SECOND REQUEST is down to 81 from 85, and lastly, SEEKING WISDOM is dropped from 93 to 91.

Enquiries:
The Handicapping Team

It would have been great to see the two 3yr old Gauteng fillies in the Cape especially in the Paddock Stakes. Based on some form lines I believe the 3yr old Cape Fillies might be better than rated.

Some strange calls imo - in the 3 Troikas, the drop of 2 points for Sentbydestiny seems non-sensical - either the run is ignored and her rating stays as is, or she needs to be dropped more - because she ran to around 101 - the 2 points seems a bit of a cop-out to me

In the Tony Ruffel, imo both Catch TwentyTwo and MK's Pride are too high - I'd rather be inclined to use Copper Mountain and Eliud as line horses - also Bingwa's drop seems a bit of a guess as well - as for Sentbydestiny - either the run is ignored or he needs to be dropped more - as he ran to much lower that 106 - even if one uses MK's Pride as the line horse - so again the drop of 5 points looks like guess-work :dry:

Cochrane wrote: It would have been great to see the two 3yr old Gauteng fillies in the Cape especially in the Paddock Stakes. Based on some form lines I believe the 3yr old Cape Fillies might be better than rated.

I agree the Gauteng 3yr old fillies would have added some variety to the Paddock Stakes - as for the 3yr old Cape Fillies being better than rated, I guess we will see on Saturday

Frodo, my view is based on the following:

Captain Ransom running down Cloud Unfould over 1400m in October was almost unbelievable and after that i had her as a certainty for the Fillies G.

In the CTS race during November, Lemon Delight was drawn and raced wide towards the rear but ran past Willow Express like he was standing still to finish second to Seeking the Stars.

Willow has form against the best Jhb colts and Lemon Delight i doubt is the best Bass 3yr old filly

If there is a tail wind and crawl then Pudding gonna get some cheek

Thanks Cochrane - not saying you are wrong - but just to point out a few things that I think may need to be considered:

Yes, Captain's Ransom did run down Clouds Unfold - but was in receipt of a whopping 12.5 kgs; in the Fillies Guineas she went on to beat Due Diligence by just over 5 lengths; War of Athena I make around 5 lengths superior to Due Dilligence; so not much for me between Captain's Ransom and War of Athena - who beat Queen Supreme by more than a length receiving 9 kgs; Princess Calla was closest to Captain's Ransom in the Fill Guineas (2.25 lengths behind) so receiving only 6 kgs from Queen Supreme on Saturday does not seem enough

I do not rate Willow Express, and also not that strong on Lemon Delight.

So for me, the 3yr olds have something to find, and I think the race lies between Summer Pudding, Clouds Unfold and Queen Supreme; it it were over 1600, I think Clouds Unfold would have been a big runner - not sure about the 1800 - despite being out of a Montjeu mare, I have some doubt about the 1800; so again for me I do fancy Queen Supreme - but we will see on Saturday

Frodo wrote: Thanks Cochrane - not saying you are wrong - but just to point out a few things that I think may need to be considered:

Yes, Captain's Ransom did run down Clouds Unfold - but was in receipt of a whopping 12.5 kgs; in the Fillies Guineas she went on to beat Due Diligence by just over 5 lengths; War of Athena I make around 5 lengths superior to Due Dilligence; so not much for me between Captain's Ransom and War of Athena - who beat Queen Supreme by more than a length receiving 9 kgs; Princess Calla was closest to Captain's Ransom in the Fill Guineas (2.25 lengths behind) so receiving only 6 kgs from Queen Supreme on Saturday does not seem enough

I do not rate Willow Express, and also not that strong on Lemon Delight.

So for me, the 3yr olds have something to find, and I think the race lies between Summer Pudding, Clouds Unfold and Queen Supreme; it it were over 1600, I think Clouds Unfold would have been a big runner - not sure about the 1800 - despite being out of a Montjeu mare, I have some doubt about the 1800; so again for me I do fancy Queen Supreme - but we will see on Saturday

Clouds Unfold carried 10kg more than Captain's Ransom

Frodo - yes also Clouds was returning from a rest.

Cochrane wrote: Frodo - yes also Clouds was returning from a rest.

`

Yes - and so was Queen Supreme when beaten by War of Athena.

Contest wrote:

Frodo wrote: Thanks Cochrane - not saying you are wrong - but just to point out a few things that I think may need to be considered:

Yes, Captain's Ransom did run down Clouds Unfold - but was in receipt of a whopping 12.5 kgs; in the Fillies Guineas she went on to beat Due Diligence by just over 5 lengths; War of Athena I make around 5 lengths superior to Due Dilligence; so not much for me between Captain's Ransom and War of Athena - who beat Queen Supreme by more than a length receiving 9 kgs; Princess Calla was closest to Captain's Ransom in the Fill Guineas (2.25 lengths behind) so receiving only 6 kgs from Queen Supreme on Saturday does not seem enough

I do not rate Willow Express, and also not that strong on Lemon Delight.

So for me, the 3yr olds have something to find, and I think the race lies between Summer Pudding, Clouds Unfold and Queen Supreme; it it were over 1600, I think Clouds Unfold would have been a big runner - not sure about the 1800 - despite being out of a Montjeu mare, I have some doubt about the 1800; so again for me I do fancy Queen Supreme - but we will see on Saturday

Clouds Unfold carried 10kg more than Captain's Ransom

I'm not sure - did Solomons not claim his 2.5 kgs - seems that way if one looks at Formgrids - but not according to Computaform and Gallop

Frodo wrote:

Contest wrote:

Frodo wrote: Thanks Cochrane - not saying you are wrong - but just to point out a few things that I think may need to be considered:

Yes, Captain's Ransom did run down Clouds Unfold - but was in receipt of a whopping 12.5 kgs; in the Fillies Guineas she went on to beat Due Diligence by just over 5 lengths; War of Athena I make around 5 lengths superior to Due Dilligence; so not much for me between Captain's Ransom and War of Athena - who beat Queen Supreme by more than a length receiving 9 kgs; Princess Calla was closest to Captain's Ransom in the Fill Guineas (2.25 lengths behind) so receiving only 6 kgs from Queen Supreme on Saturday does not seem enough

I do not rate Willow Express, and also not that strong on Lemon Delight.

So for me, the 3yr olds have something to find, and I think the race lies between Summer Pudding, Clouds Unfold and Queen Supreme; it it were over 1600, I think Clouds Unfold would have been a big runner - not sure about the 1800 - despite being out of a Montjeu mare, I have some doubt about the 1800; so again for me I do fancy Queen Supreme - but we will see on Saturday

Clouds Unfold carried 10kg more than Captain's Ransom

I'm not sure - did Solomons not claim his 2.5 kgs - seems that way if one looks at Formgrids - but not according to Computaform and Gallop

I think it must be just a glitch on Formgrids, as apprentices can't claim in feature races.

Frodo - what is Captains Ransom's date of birth?