Rainbow Bridge rises to new rating
THE handicappers have raised Rainbow Bridge seven points to a new merit rating of 104 following his impressive win in last Saturday’s Matchem Stakes but that still leaves the unbeaten four-year-old quite a bit below the mark required to win the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate.
Legal Eagle, winner of the last three runnings, is rated 123 which makes him nearly ten lengths the better over a mile.
The Eric Sands stable reported yesterday that their star had “pulled up well.”
Surprise runner-up New Caledonia has been raised five points to 95 but last year’s winner Our Mate Art, beaten two lengths in third, has been left on an unchanged 99.
Last year’s Cape Guineas winner Tap O’Noth, fourth in the Matchem, and Progress Plate winner One World - also unchanged on 113 and 109 respectively - were said by Vaughan Marshall yesterday to have come out of their races well, with the trainer adding: “It was a very pleasing day.”
Kasimir
But Justin Snaith’s comments about Kasimir echo those of Bernard Fayd’Herbe which suggested that One World may have been flattered by the courageous way he appeared to outbattle Kasimir.
Snaith said: “It was Kasimir’s first run since May, he had only had one gallop since then and he got tired in the last bit. He is best in sprints but it is going to be hard for him because he has a high rating of 105.”
The champion trainer had arranged to sell the horse to Hong Kong but the deal fell through because the four-year-old failed the piroplasmosis test aimed at ensuring that he is free from any trace of tick-borne diseases.
The market in the jockeys’ championship has altered dramatically in the 16 days since this column expressed the opinion that Anton Marcus, then fourth in the log, was a big price at 20-1.
The four-time champion, now on 42 winners and only one behind log leader Muzi Yeni, has been slashed to 4-1 with Yeni, Richard Fourie and Gavin Lerena joint favourites at 33-10 with World Sports Betting.
Now the value looks to be Ryan Munger who landed a four-timer at Kimberley on Monday to put himself third on the log.
He has, surprisingly, been pushed out from 14-1 to 25-1 despite being a natural lightweight with a keenness to travel that sees him having more rides than anyone except Yeni.
Munger, on 37 winners after landing the opener at Durbanville yesterday on Rob Roy for Glen Kotzen, said: “I am going well. Rob Roy was my fifth winner from my last nine rides and my strike rate is higher than it has been for quite some time.”
Hewitson
Current champion Lyle Hewitson is an 11-2 chance and others priced up are Aldo Domeyer at 15-2 and Warren Kennedy on 16-1 with 45-1 available about Keagan de Melo. Greg Cheyne is a 55-1 shot and you can get 75-1 about Craig Zackey.
Backers of favourites had a tough time yesterday with all bar Silver Maple biting the dust including many people’s idea of the biggest certainty, Trippi’s Express.
He was beaten just over a length into third at even money behind the Paul Reeves-trained allthe-way 9-1 shot Photocopy (Donovan Dillon) in the Betting World Handicap.
To be fair, it was only the colt’s third run and he was rated 85.
Brett Crawford said: “I expected better but I am not devastated.
“At this time of year it is harder for three-yearolds against older horses than people think and he was giving weight to the two four-year-olds that beat him.”