3 minute read

We look around the grounds at some of the key ratings to take into the new year.

Ascot – Perth Cup Picture

The final lead up for the Perth Cup on New Year's Day was run on Saturday with In Good Order taking out the Group 2 Ted Van Heemst Stakes (2100m).

He's run to a clear new peak on the RAS ratings scale, coming in at 113, up from a previous peak of 104. He'd run to 99 on the RAS scale last time although the sectionals were good there.

The time figure here isn't flash, nothing more than a dash home, although this isn't a necessarily bad rating for a Van Heemst winner.

Looking at the past ten years, the median winning rating has been exactly 113 so he's around the mark, but I'd be relatively suspect on this form in a Perth Cup just given the slow time.

Heading the Perth Cup market is Diamond Scene who won the A.T.A Stakes last Wednesday well enough, with a RAS rating of 106. That's better than Neufbosc (103) who then won the Perth Cup in a rating of 108.

All in all, I'll be against the locals in the Perth Cup if a horse like Young Werther turns up. He's rated 118 at his best and a peak of 114 over 2400m. It's probably not an idea set up for him but his best gives the locals a towelling, and I don't think there's a whole lot of opposition.

Eagle Farm – B J McLachlan Stakes

A key reference to the Magic Millions 2yo Classic, Icarian Dream won the Group 3 B J McLachlan Stakes (1200m) with a RAS rating of 101, which isn't particularly strong for this race historically.

Storm Boy ran to 107 last year and then improved to 116 in the Magic Millions while Coolangatta ran 104 here and then 109 in the Millions.

Icarian Dream has raced four times now and gone 90-100-98-101, which sees her as second pick in the market for a wide open Magic Millions, certainly with no standout horse as yet.

A typical McLachlan winner has rated around the 104-105 mark while the Magic Millions 2yo Classic has taken anywhere from 105-116 to win, with 110+ being a typical winning standard.

This year, so far, looks fairly thin with Memo (rated 99) favourite. She was unlucky in the Wyong Magic Millions won by O' Ole (rated 101), which is as good as Icarian Dream has gone on Saturday.

We've also touched on impressive Melbourne debut winner Invincible Woman who ran to 100 at Caulfield Heath, although not seeing her again before the Gold Coast is tricky.

This doesn't look a particularly strong group of juveniles, but as is always the case, they can improve out of sight very quickly, especially when getting into races with high pressure.

Randwick – Pallaton

While one from the Magic Millions group hasn't quite yet put their hand up, we did see a Golden Slipper fancy emerge at Randwick as Pallaton came clear late over 1000m to score by a widening 2.8 lengths, running to a RAS rating of 102 in the process.

Cracking the 100 mark on debut is always a good sign and the time figure looks nice and warm.

In terms of two-year-old's so far this season, Pallaton at 102 is up there. North England tops the list at 104 off his Golden Gift win ahead of the sadly ill-fated King Kirk, Bel Merci and Palm Angel all at 103.

While it's easy to get excited about a smart two-year-old on debut, which Pallaton certainly is, there's a long way to go before we get serious.

Even looking at this meeting over the past few years, Straight Charge ran to 109 winning this race (over 1100m) while Fire Lane ran 103 the year prior.

Pallaton doing what he's done on debut is plenty promising, and he's up there with the best juveniles we've seen so far, but there will be plenty more who put their hand up in the new year.