Gimme A Prince is our new No 1

Events at Kenilworth in the past month have shaken up the official rankings of South Africa’s top racehorses.

Gimme A Prince, imperious victor of the HKJC World Pools Cape Flying Championship on Saturday, is the country’s new No 1 horse with a merit rating of 134.

This puts him two points ahead of One Stripe, who recently rocketed to the top of the rankings following a very impressive win in the Grade 1 L’Ormarins King’s Plate in early January.

Erstwhile top dog See It Again has tumbled down the log to joint sixth place after finishing fourth in Saturday’s headliner, the WSB Cape Town Met.

The handicappers hiked Gimme A Prince five MR points after he left 13 well-regarded rivals for dead over the testing Kenilworth 1000m.

‘One of best sprinters in the world’

It was the Dean Kannemeyer-trained six-year-old’s seventh win in 16 starts, which have also included four second places. Injury setbacks have limited the gelding’s racing opportunities but he is currently back in top form, with jockey Craig Zackey declaring on Saturday that he is “one of the best sprinters in the world”.

Interestingly, Saturday was only the second time that the son of Gimmethegreenlight had tackled the shortest sprint – the other occasion being when he won the self-same Cape Flying Championship two years ago.

In assessing Gimme A Prince’s performance, the National Horseracing Authority (NHA) decided that the runner-up, Surjay, was the most suitable line horse, leaving his rating unchanged on 124.

Eight On Eighteen

Meanwhile, Saturday’s Cape Town Met winner Eight On Eighteen saw his rating shoved up a hefty 12 points – from 115 to 127 – after capturing the Grade 1 at weight-for-age terms over 2000m. The handicappers agreed to use runner up Oriental Charm as the line horse, leaving his rating unaltered on 125.

As the sole three-year-old, taking on seasoned older horses with a six-kilogram impost advantage, Eight On Eighteen comprehensively outperformed the official weighting criteria.

There were MR increases for other horses. Rascallion, who finished fifth, went up to 124 from 122, while Pacaya went up from 116 to 118 and Future Swing from 114 to 117.

“This will ensure that Pacaya and Future Swing meet on correct weight terms in a handicap race,” said the NHA.

Despite finishing in the prize money, See It Again was dropped to 128 from 131 “after failing to confirm his pre-rating of 131 in his recent outings”.

NHA merit ratings as at 29.1.25:

134 Gimme A Prince
132 One Stripe
130 Main Defender
129 Montien
129 Winchester Mansion
128 Dave The King
128 Dyce
128 See It Again
127 Eight On Eighteen
127 Green With Envy
125 Barbaresco
125 Lucky Lad
125 Oriental Charm
125 Royal Victory
125 Snow Pilot
125 William Robertson
124 Questioning
124 Rascallion
124 Royal Aussie
124 Surjay