SAF Prominent on International Ratings for 2009

Racing Post World Wide Ratings 4yo+ for 2009

International Ratings TOP TEN (current season)
2yo European 3yo Worldwide 4yo+ Worldwide 5-6f Worldwide 7-9f Worldwide 10-11f Worldwide 12-13f Worldwide 14f+ Worldwide Dirt horses GB All-weather Jumpers


NAME OR RPR
Jay Peg 122
Russian Sage 122
Apache Cat 121
Asakusa Kings 121
Company 121
Balius 120
Imbongi 120
Maldivian 120
Admire Fuji 119
Alamosa 119

Barry...can you please expalin why the MR vary around the world?JAY PEG runs off a 120 in Dubai but this shows him a 122?

Puffin - Nice run from your boy on Thursday. I had to watch on mobile TV as I was away on business in Vryheid. I am looking forward to the big race and I reckon that it could be a match race between him and Archipenko. I am not sure what the strength of Archipenkos field was in his last victory but he was super impressive. I am sure there is quite a bit left in the tank with Peg though and the Duty free once again looks to be the race of the night. Weichong looks well suited and is a great choice to replace an unavailable Anton.

I am quite confused about Russian Sage's MR. He obviously a good horse but his MR seems quite high for a horse that has not done too much overseas yet. I stress yet.

Watched the replay of the Jaypeg Race and Imbongi only got a run very late. He would not have beaten the winner but would have run second.

Imbongi is a good horse and seemed to do more to prove himself whilst he was in SA imho.

Each racing locale, whether it is England, France, German, Italy or South Africa, has its own scale of numbers that it uses to rate horses. The United States, by the way, does not have a central body like a Jockey Club that does this, which is absurd.

Anyway, a Merit Rating is supposed to approximate as closely as possible the same system of handicapping used in the United Arab Emirates.

However, the ratings of horses in South Africa are absurdly low. Even when it was raised a few years ago by 6 points, the elevation was not nearly enough.

In England, in addition to the British Horse Racing handicap ratings, which are considered to be the official ratings, you have Timeform and Racing Post speed figures, which generally are somewhat higher.

The relevant thing, whether one is using Timeform, the BHB or the figures from Dubai or South Africa, is the spread between the horses.

In South Africa last season, for instance, there was quite a discrepancy between how Russian Sage was rated (107) relative to Imbongi and King's Gambit, for example. The last-named two were rated by the Horse Racing Authority as being 5 pounds superior to Russian Sage, even though it was apparent that very little if anything separated Imbongi from Russian Sage and that King's Gambit has beaten very little in Gauteng.

I could have bought King's Gambit, but didn't consider him in the same league as Russian Sage.

In Dubai, Russian Sage has proven that his South African rating was probably 9 pounds too low last season. Imbongi was probably 5 pounds too low.

One of the problems with the South African numbers being so low is that they cannot qualify for the big races until they elevate their numbers. Apparently the reason the numbers are so low is that the Racing Authority handicapper suffers from an impression that trainers and owners in South Africa want to keep their numbers low because they are constantly complaining about them.

Alcaponee, imho, Russian Sage has more room to improve for the Duty Free than Jay Peg because he was late leaving South Africa and late leaving England for one reason or another. He figures to make significant improvement again next time. He just ran your boy to a deadheat under equal weights, something Jay Peg could not do at a similar stage of the season last year.

There was no malice in my comments and I am not saying that Russian Sage is not good. He is a great horse and I was just wondering how his MR jumped so quickly. He obviously deserves this rating after dead heating with Jaypeg at level weights.

Jaypeg has already proved himself and won the Duty Free and a race in Singapore and and and in SA whilst Russian Sage is still to prove himself on the international stage which I am sure he will.

Jaypeg may not have equalled Russian Sages achievements at the same stage last year but he certainly went on to win the one that counted and followed up in Singapore. He may, by gods grace, even pull off a Duty Free double.

I have had the privelidge of spending time with a few of the connections, one being from the town I live in and will always support their horses as they were really good to me and I was priveleged enough to be introduced to some of the top people in SA racing and got really close to some of SA's top horses. Jaypeg certainly has me as one of his chief supporters

Good luck to you with Russian Sage. I doubt that Japeg would have been fully wound up to win this race and Weichong did not seem to punish him. I believe he will have Jaypeg and his stable companion Archipenko to beat. Perhaps Vodka will also be fighting out the finish.

I think both Jay Peg and Russian Sage will improve, but they have Archie to beat and there are surely going to be others from Japan and elsewhere that are going to be hard to beat. This race, as has been pointed out, is always the deepest in terms of talent, unlike some of the others, where there are usually one or two top runners. Good luck to you and your pals. I came close to buying into Jay Peg at one point and have always regretted the decision not to pull the trigger.

Cant win them all. Nice win with Chaquita though. I really hope that Shes on Fire wins for you too. I always follow her and she deserves to win again.

what was the winning margin on Chiquita?

A couple of lengths. Did it very easy

Comfortable victory probably about 2 1/2 lengths