Trainer M ROBIN

Anybody info ?

Perhaps related to C Bird.

Cocky .... Robin?

actually his name is mike robinson ,was assistant to mike stewart then till last year to dennis drier..took up job with the ruperts in cape town with his wife who happens to be doug camphells daughter.a very likeable guy who will be training for drakenstein stud formerly known lormarins stud..apparently got state of the art all weather track on stud farm..good luck to him i hope he does well

Well from what i've seen he knows his oats - his teletrack interviews were one of the few that i took seriously so i think he'll be a top trainer especially with that stock

you lost your chance AB tried to get you a 1/4 for a mere R4000 but you declined hardly a tip in the resturants you and the Cat frequent

Not so sure he's a nice horse but no world beater - but for R30 000 he was one of the cheapest around and if all goes well he might turn out to be a fair handicapper in a year or so but the MR system has us stumped - he's an 81 but a horse like Secret Sin(10 wins) is a 74 - last year we battled with an ordinary baby that won in a slow time that started out as an 87 now we win as a three-year-old and start off as an 81 - very difficult to place horses in the current system as the older horses have a huge advantage and though handicappers say you get an age allowance my boy is more like a 78 imho - the only alternative is to try to go into restricted races for three-year-olds and take on all the big guns hence running him next week in a progress plate - if it is to believed that our ratings are on par with the rest of the world then i shudder to think what an 81 mr horse in the UK would do to my poor horse - take a look at a horse called Sweets From Heaven - Kimberly queen but is rated so highly you'd think she is a future Rosinante

Please do me a favour and look at Primo in that race - he's an 84 - his first run he races in MR 76 gets wallopped by Princely Light and Harbour Master (both carry similar weights to him - they are both then dropped in the MR while he stays the same - look at Sharp texan he started out at an 87 now he's a 59 a year later - think of all the training fees i lost trying to get him down in the MR because the handicapper rated him highly for winning a 1200m in one of the slowest times possible - also the poor horse lost heart having to race against strong handicappers because the handicapper thought he was a top horse - very easy to label a horse with a high MR but very difficult to get the handicapper to adjust when they are wrong - if the handicapper believes that he is correct with Primo's rating then both Princely L and Harbour Master should have gone up in the ratings as the both beat an 84 at almost level weights they have been dropped go figure!!! www.sahorseracing.co.za/cgi-bin/drawsim owners and trainers need to take a stand on this as the older horses are having a field day while young horses are losing confidence because of over rating!!!!

Mr H

You are quite correct; imo 90% of maiden winners are contesting their first race out of the maidens at a MR of up to 10 points too high; so it seems that maidens are racing off too high ratings.

You say 'owners and trainers need to take a stand'; when the handicappers are asked about these absurd ratings, they tell you to 'run the horse and prove us wrong'; this off course can be interpreted as 'race your horse and run downfield'.

I think the maiden ratings are too high; drop them and be have 10% of maidens come out of their maiden wins with a too low ratings; rather than having 90% come out with too high ratings.

I agree Frodo i've been told to race my horse over a similar trip(that he won over) to prove he has less ability than rated- it seems absurd that horses that have gone through the divisions and won a great deal of races are being treated like poor orphans while younger horses are stopped because they win one weak race - i wonder if these MR ratings have anything to do with racing abroad - very difficult to get a one time winner into Dubai if he races of a 78 (a mark that i think all maiden winners should start off on regardless if they won as two three or four year olds)-

Agreed AB, we have to shut up, or get out. Just to mention another (perhaps extreme) example, a month ago our filly (one time winner) would be carrying the same weight as 8-time winner (at the time) Secret Sin, if they were competing in the same race!

How about if there is an 'absolute'maximum maiden win number - say 80 - that is pegged at the fastest 3yr old time over the distance for the previous 12months and then give all other maiden winners a rating based off of that?

Obvoiusly, if a maiden wins doing hand stands then they would automatically get said 'maximum' rating.

My tuppence

nice point of departure Jam - problem i find is that ancient warriors are being dropped too quickly and that makes them better off at the weights - i would like to see colts start at 78 and fillies 76 regardless of age or opposition that they beat in the maidens - adjust accordingly after the next start