Betway Sumer Cup defending champ Atticus Finch will carry 3kg more in this month’s big race than he would have as a result of the six-point merit rating penalty he got for winning Saturday’s Allied Steelrode Charity Mile.
National Horseracing Authority handicappers raised the gelding’s MR from 121 to 127 – making him the highest-rated entrant in the Grade 1 R6-million contest over 2000m at Turffontein on 29 November.
Top weight in the race is pegged at 60kg. At MR 121, trainer Alec Laird’s charge would have been the fourth highest-rated runner and probably allotted 57kg.
The handicappers reckoned the runner-up in the Grade 2 Charity Mile, Callmegetrix, was the most suitable line horse for evaluating the race, so her merit rating remains unchanged at 110.
No other runners got upward adjustments for this race. Horses receiving MR reductions were Imilenzeyokududuma (to 113 from 114), Musical Score (109 from 111), Barbaresco (120 from 121) and Aristotle (108 from 109).
Another impressive winner on Charity Mile day at Turffontein, Tin Pan Alley in the Grade 3 Graham Beck Stakes for three-year-olds over 1400m, escaped any penalty.
Sixth-placed Zalatoris was chosen as the line horse, leaving his rating unchanged at 105. With the race assessed this way, Tin Pan Alley performed below his official MR – which stayed unchanged at 116.
Due to the Graham Beck Stakes race conditions limiting MR increases to a maximum of four points for placed runners, the following horses were capped despite delivering performances that warranted higher adjustments: Trust (up to 92 from 88), Nyaka Nyaka (101 from 97) and One Eye On Vegas (97 from 93).
The Summer Cup picture has changed a lot since the announcement of first entries early in October.
Atticus Finch has been trimmed in the betting from 11.00 to 5.00 and is now second favourite behind The Equator (4.00). The latter, a poshly bred import, has had his odds slashed after registering two facile victories at Turffontein in the past two months.
Gold Cup champion King Pelles has remained steady in the betting at around 9.00, while Legend Of Arthur and Madison Valley have both attracted heavy support and shortened a dozen points to 12.00 each.
On the drift are See It Again, Royal Victory, Parisian Walkway and Spumante Dolce.
Final entries for the Sumer Cup close on Monday 17 November and weights will be issued at the same time. Final declarations are due on Wednesday the 19th, with the final field of 20 runners and their draws announced on the same day on television.
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