Not This Time has moved up our sire sections after producing both of Gulfstream's Group 3 winners on Saturday.
Gulfstream held Group action for a second weekend running on Saturday, Nearly claiming the Holy Bull by a wide-margin five and a three-quarter lengths and On Time Girl the Forward Gal with three lengths in hand.
The victories moved their sire, Not This Time, to #5 from #6 in the Global Rankings Dirt Sires section and to #8 from #9 in our Overall Sires table.
Nearly’s trainer, Todd Pletcher, climbed one in the Trainers table, going from #10 to #9, while Johnny Velazquez, who was aboard the colt, is now tantalisingly close to entering the Jockeys section top 10, thrust from #12 to #11.
Over to our resident guru James Willoughby, who talks the USA, Hong Kong and South Africa. But only after starting in Chile...
James Willoughby
Let’s start in an unusual place, with the Chilean Derby (the Grade 1 El Derby at Valparaíso Sporting Club), won by the grey Teao.
The Chileans run their Classics in a different order and Teao had been third in the Chilean St Leger, before winning the Chilean 2,000 Guineas by seven lengths. He had to work a lot harder to win the big one, but he did so gamely by half a length from a filly, Noche Sublime (up to #186 from #357).
For his success on Saturday, Teao received a Global Rankings rating of 113, which is about standard for that sort of race. It makes him Chile’s highest-ranked horse and he’s at #55 (from #103) in our table, simply because his profile has a bit of depth.
His sire, Ya Primo (up to #173 from #244), won the same race in 2019 before joining Chad Brown, for whom he failed to make much of an impact in two or three Graded Stakes.
I think Teao wouldn’t be a top horse on dirt in the US, but as a tough horse, he might be capable of picking up a Graded Stakes.
Westwood wins on west coast
In the States, Westwood put up one of the best performances anywhere in the world this week. He won the San Pasqual at Santa Anita, a Grade 2 trial for next month’s Santa Anita Handicap.
He’s obviously a very effective horse on the track because he upheld the form of last year’s Santa Anita Derby, when he chased home #15 Journalism and #43 Baeza.
He now sits at #149 (from #1407), which I think tells you that he needs to do more to be a threat in the handicap division, but we’ll learn more about his abilities in that aforementioned Santa Anita Handicap.
The Classic trials at Gulfstream, both Grade 3 standard, yielded two really good winners.
On Time Girl, trained by Brad Cox, won the Forward Gal impressively by three lengths, receving a race performance rating of 109 (good for a filly, as it’s the equivalent of 112 for a colt).
She enters the rankings at #261 and will presumably take her chance next in the race the Forward Gal feeds, the Davona Dale – always a really good race – this year held on Saturday 28th February.
In the colts’ race, the Holy Bull, the Todd Pletcher-trained Nearly survived a very strong pace. They went like mad and he drew clear in the straight.
He earned an 113 performance rating to leave him ranked above On Time Girl at #216, and this performance makes him look like a strong candidate for the Florida Derby over the same course and distance.
It’s worth remembering that both Nearly’s trainer and jockey have both briefly been #1 in their respective classifications, and with Not This Time (sire of both Gulfstream Grade 3 winners) heading onwards and upwards, it’s also worth noting that this is a vintage era for US dirt stallions, not least as it comes relatively soon after a decade when perhaps they weren’t quite so strong, from about 2000 to 2010.
With that in mind, it’s worth checking our dirt classifications for regular updates.
Such is the quality of stallions, I even wonder whether we might see Europeans purchasing horses by some of the top US dirt sires more regularly, with the intention of running them on turf, which of course was very much a theme of the 1980s and 90s.
Never since our rankings started has there been a stronger population of dirt horses challenging the hegemony of top European turf sires in our Overall Sires classification.
Meanwhile in the Southern Hemisphere...
Would you believe it... Hong Kong might have another superstar.
The first leg of the Triple Crown for four-year-olds, the Hong Kong Classic Mile, took place on Sunday. It's a conditions race, but counts as a Group 3 for us and always has done.
It has had some good winners and this year's, Little Paradise, was wildly impressive, travelling strongly throughout and quickening when in the clear.
Though he has a long way to go before rubbing shoulders with the likes of Romantic Warrior and Ka Ying Rising, he looks certain to move his way up the rankings.
He sits at #560 at the moment, but should rank significantly higher and is therefore a reason to tune in to the next leg of the Triple Crown in a few weeks.
At Kenilworth on Saturday, See It Again (up to #255 from #959), showed that top South African horses can achieve ratings in line with some of those in Europe.
He added to a portfolio of some of South Africa's top races with victory in the Cape Town Met and now has four figures at 112 or higher, which is really impressive and would make him a match for many horses in Europe if he was given the chance.
Bill Mott was the most recent subject to answer our questions in What They're Thinking
Tattersalls hosts its two-day February Sale on Thursday and Friday
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