Poinsettia Stakes (Grade 3)

VIHAAN’S PIE has had her merit rating raised from 90 to 102 following her success in the Grade 3 Poinsettia Stakes for fillies and mares over the Scottsville 1200m straight course on Sunday 9 May. The Handicappers were of the view that 3rd placed KEEP THE LIGHTS ON made for the most suitable line horse when assessing this race, which leaves her unchanged on a mark of 99.

The only other ratings increase was for 2nd placed FAVORITA, who goes up slightly from 100 to 101, but there were drops for five horses. 4th placed SINGFORAFA (who was dropped from 117 to 114 following the publication of weights for this race) gets a further decrease and is now rated 113. The other drops were for ZIMBABA who goes from 98 to 96, POINT OF SALE who is down from 97 to 95, SILENT CRUSADE, who drops to 103 from 105, and lastly ALL OF ME who drops from 94 to 93.

In Full Flight Handicap (Listed)

ISHNANA has had his rating increased from 102 to 104 after his win in the Listed In Full Flight Handicap over 1100m at Scottsville on Sunday. It was runner-up GOOD RHYTHM who was deemed to make for the best line horse here, leaving him unaltered on a mark of 103. Given the close nature of the finish, rating the race this way sees 3rd placed WINTER SMOKE and 4th finisher NO LAYING UP running to their ratings as well, effectively making them additional line horses and leaving them unchanged on a mark of 107 apiece.

The winner was the only horse to receive a rating’s increase, but there were drops for five runners. MOMBELA was trimmed from 104 to 103, SPEEDPOINT drops from 116 to 114, TEMPTING FATE was dropped from 113 to 109, HARD TO PLAY goes from 103 to 101, and lastly SLALOM QUEEN is down from 95 to 93.