Mocha Blend wins the Betway Summer Cup. Picture: JC Photographics There were reasons for this apparently inverted sentiment. Slack – doyen of the Oppenheimer family – has been a vital saviour of the South African racing industry after its bankruptcy following Covid and Jooste depradations.
Racing people are genuinely and profoundly grateful for this and couldn’t stop saying how “deserved” and “worthy” a win it was for the grand old rich family. The famous Oppenheimer yellow and black silks, now raced by Slack’s daughter Jessica Jell, would also have stirred affection among racegoers who have been seeing them and backing them for decades. Then there was a fairytale first-time Grade 1 victory for visiting Durban trainer-jockey combo Frank Robinson and Tristan Godden.
And an under-appreciated filly beating fancied colts in heavy going went down well, too. The good vibes didn’t reach the official handicappers, though. They hit Mocha Blend with a penalty of 12 merit rating points for her career-best performance at Turffontein.
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However, amazingly, she has lost next to nothing to the Grade 1 opponents she thrashed at the weekend. As the National Horseracing Authority’s circumlocution office explained in a press release this week: “Following her triumph, Mocha Blend’s official merit rating was raised from 105 to 117. This increase reflects the minimum uplift permissible for a handicap winner for a benchmark handicap, where 127 equates to 60kg and 115 equates to 54kg.
“The smallest adjustment allowed in any handicap is two points, equivalent to one kilogram, and this was applied to Mocha Blend. Having carried 54kg (equivalent to 115 at these weights) into the race, she was raised by the minimum increment to 117, which translates to 55kg for a handicap at the same benchmark. “The handicappers used Busstopinhounslow as the line horse, leaving his rating unchanged at 112. Olivia’s Way, who finished runner up, was increased from 112 to 116, while The Ultimate King, who finished third, was upped from 111 to 113.
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