Churchill Given 120 For Guineas Win

Churchill | Racing Post

Churchill (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) has been given a performance rating of 120 for his win in Saturday's G1 Qipco 2000 Guineas by the British Horseracing Authority. The rating is two pounds below his official rating of 122.

Dominic Gardiner-Hill, Deputy Head of Handicapping for the BHA, said, “Given that Churchill and [his fourth-placed stablemate] Lancaster Bomber not only represented the best of last year's 2-year-old form in the Dewhurst and had a much better passage through the race than others, it seems sensible to base the level around them. As such, Churchill has performed to 120 and Lancaster Bomber to 117, with [second-placed] Barney Roy at 118 and [third-placed] Al Wukair at 117. It would be fair to say that neither had the run of the race in the way the O'Brien pair did and it would be no great surprise if both improved on those figures in future.”

The BHA gave Churchill's stablemate and Sunday's G1 Qipco 1000 Guineas winner Winter (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) a mark of 116 for that performance. Gardiner-Hill said of the 1000 Guineas, “Not quite so easy to assess using traditional handicapping methods as the 2000 Guineas. After a discussion with Garry O'Gorman of the Turf Club, we have settled upon a figure of 116 for Winter, which places her behind only Finsceal Beo and Minding in the last 10 years and the equal of Homecoming Queen and Legatissimo. In publishing an official mark of 116 in Ireland, it also puts her on the same [official rating] as Rhododendron, who finished second on Sunday [running to 112+] having had a troubled passage.”

Tuesday marked the first time the BHA published its official performance figures from the prior Saturday's Class 1 races. This will become the norm, with performance figures from all Class 1 races from the preceding Sunday through to Saturday to be published via the BHA website's results pages every Tuesday morning. This is separate to the BHA's posting of official ratings.

Richard Wayman, chief operating officer of the BHA, said, “Many racing fans enjoy discussing the merit of performances, particularly following the major races, and the publication of our handicapping team's performance figures in all Class 1 races will provide an official perspective to add to such debates. Making these figures available will also help with our ongoing efforts to illustrate the general approach adopted by the handicappers to assessing races.”

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