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Eyebrows Raised as Rankings Skyrocket for SA Runners - 07-01-10
July 1 - As one online website put it, 'sanity has prevailed' with regards to the recent situation where a couple of leading South African racehorses were awarded excessive merit ratings following a 1600m June outing in Cape Town.
Eyebrows were raised across the South African horse racing industry when following his win in last month's R750,000 Rising Sun Gold Challenge (Gr 1) at Clairwood Racecourse in Cape Town, Big City Life received a rating of 118.
And they remained raised when Blue Tiger, who placed in the same race, received an even more unrealistic rating of 119. The too-good-to-be-true ratings were the subject of much controversy until an appeal resulted in their correction.
On behalf of its charge Big City Life, Glen Kotzen Racing Stables lodged an appeal against the abnormal rating with the National Horse racing Association (NHA).
And according to the NHA, an independent panel convened on Wednesday this week (June 30) to hear the appeal, which upon learning the facts agreed with the handicappers that the Rising Sun was indeed a difficult race to rate.
The panel also said that there were many factors to consider in determining the correct line horse, and that the line horse the handicappers used, Smart Banker, was not appropriate given how much his form fluctuated from course to course.
By the end, the panel awarded Big City Life a far more realistic rating of 114 and Blue Tiger an equally realistic rating of 113. But the rating debacle has put a spotlight on South African horse racing and how its ratings are formulated.
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