Gold Circle Pty (Ltd)

Today's Racing :

Clarity on three point merit rise

David Thiselton
Punters have been confused lately by mysterious raises and drops in horses’ merit ratings. This is due to an adjustment made on April 1.
On that date all horses in the major centres (Cape Town, KZN and Gauteng)were raised three points, while all horse in Port Elzabeth were lowered by three points. Sand ratings at the Vaal and Kimberly remained unchanged.
The three point raise was done to align our horses with their international counterparts as there has been a perception that our horses have been rated too low. It was also done to fill a perceived gap between the horses rated 74 and lower and 84 and upward that appeared to have been created by horses creeping up and horses slipping down. In the case where a horse appears to have only been raised, for example, two points instead of three that would have been due to them being given a performance related drop of one point before the compulsory three point raise. Some horses appear to have been given no raise at all and might have actually been lowered but that could have been due to, for example, a three-year-old returning from a long rest in which case the horse would have been due for a weight-for-age adjustment drop. The PE horses have been lowered as it was perceived that due to a creep factor they had become too close to horses from the major centres.

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