Ghaiyyath to be rated 127 - only 1lb behind world's best racehorse Enable
Sunday’s runaway 14-length Grosser Preis von Baden winner Ghaiyyath, described after the race as “a monster” by jockey William Buick, is set to be given a BHA mark of 127.
That would put him 1lb behind Enable – the world's best racehorse – to whom he will be required to concede 3lb in next month’s Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, for which he is generally trading at 10-1 (from 33-1 before Sunday's race).
There is no obligation to publish figures for races that took place after the usual Saturday cut-off until next Tuesday, but handicapper Mark Olley has had a good look at the form and knows where he is heading.
Olley said: "I’ve spoken with the German handicapper and I’m probably going with 127, which makes Ghaiyyath the equal of Crystal Ocean and Battaash and puts him 1lb behind Enable.
“It was a wide-margin win and those sort of races are so hard to rate, but the second, the three-year-old filly Donjah, was a 106-rated two-year-old who came back to run to about 104 in the German Oaks after a setback in the spring, and the German handicapper is going to put her back to 106, which I don’t think is unreasonable."
However, Olley does have reservations about Ghaiyyath’s overall profile, and therefore his ability to reproduce the Baden-Baden form at Longchamp.
He said: "Since he had those three races in quick succession as a two-year-old he doesn’t seem to have taken much racing. There are big gaps otherwise, and the only time he has backed up quickly was when he disappointed in the Ganay. You just wonder if the Arc will come too quickly, although other than that one blip he’s got a massively progressive profile."
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Published on 3 September 2019inNews
Last updated 17:03, 3 September 2019
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