We look at the top-rated horses from around the country on Saturday.
Palm Angel
Saturday kicked into gear quickly with the impressive win of Palm Angel in the Merson Cooper.
The Rosemont Stud product led the field at an even speed before putting her rivals away with relative ease around the home turn at Caulfield.
Running to a Racing and Sports rating of 103, that puts her right up there as one of the strongest winners of the Merson Cooper we've seen since 2010, sitting right alongside Anamoe who was also rated 103.
While that rating alongside Anamoe stands out in itself, the fact that she's done it on debut adds excitement around that figure, with those rated higher than her winning the two-year-old feature all had runs leading into that figure.
To put some more context around the rating, only 30 two-year-old's in the 2023-24 season debuted with a figure of 100 or more, and only 10 of those ran that figure in Victoria.
She's one of – if not the – most exciting horse to come out of what was a relatively quiet weekend.
Hi Barbie
Keeping with the 2YO theme, $1.2 million Magic Millions purchase Hi Barbie suggested she'll have a part to play on the Gold Coast with a good win in testing conditions at Doomben on Saturday.
While rated 99 by RAS off the debut victory, there's enough substance behind the rating to suggest she'll make the grade.
Her mum Outback Barbie ran to 98+ with RAS in the Calaway Gal on debut before running 5th to Sunlight in the Magic Millions 2YO Classic of 2018 and being raced in the same connections, there's likely to be a big circle arond the Classic in early January.
We saw a strong 2YO crop last season, but she's not far off those who went to the race last year off just one outing.
Hidden Wealth
Staying in Queensland and the win of Hidden Wealth is worth mentioning.
Following a 63-day break, the gelding returned with a new peak figure of 116 with RAS, a rating that will have him at the top of the market in many Queensland features through the summer.
With races such as the Falvelon and The Buffering well within his grasp should he head in that direction, the race connections should have circled is the Magic Millions Snippets.
King Of Sparta has won that race in the past two years, running 115 and 116 in both those winning efforts respectively.
Still a relatively lightly raced five-year-old, punters wouldn't be going out on a limb if they were to say Hidden Wealth is – or could be – a better horse than King Of Sparta.
While there are no futures markets on the MM Snippets just yet, it's likely that Hidden Wealth we be at the top of betting, and deservedly so.
Overpass
It was another fruitful trip to the west for Bjorn Baker with his star gelding notching up another Group 1 Winterbottom Stakes victory.
The six-year-old has run Racing and Sports ratings of 119-119-120-119 in his four wins over in the west and he once again proved too speedy for his rivals.
It's interesting to note that following his win in the Winterbottom 12 months ago, the gelding didn't race again until The Quokka earlier this year.
After removing the label of being a 'mad freshie' on Saturday, it'll be interesting to see how Baker plots his path back to the west and for The Quokka in 2025 with Sydney's riches in the autumn an obvious carrot.
