We look back at the key performances and ratings from the Tasmanian Racing season.
It was a good year for some emerging Tasmanian horses with the two and three-year-old divisions particularly strong. We'll look at the key horses and performances of the season according to Racing And Sports ratings.
Two-Year-Olds
Sanniya looks a very smart prospect for the Barry Campbell yard, going unbeaten in two runs to date with two strong wins, backed up on the clock and on the RAS ratings.
She's led throughout in both wins over the Launceston 1200m with RAS ratings of 90 and 96, winning the Listed Gold Sovereign Stakes in a corresponding time figure at her most recent start.
A RAS rating of 96 for a two-year-old in Tasmania is as good as anything in the past handful of years. We have to go back to 2018 to find a higher rating two-year-old, who just happened to be Mystic Journey (100), who ended her glittering career rated 122 at Racing And Sports.
In the past ten years, only Mystic Journey, Hot Dipped (99), Gee Gee Secondover (97) and Gold Busker (97) have posted a better rating than Sanniya.
Sanniya's 96 rating matches what Geegees Mistruth (more on her shortly) did in her Gold Sovereign win last year, although Geegees Mistruth was having her fourth start having run to 95 winning the Elwick Stakes prior.
The other two-year-old that made waves in the latter part of the season was Mazzini, also for the Barry Campbell yard (fair duo to have!), winning by 7-1/2 lengths on debut at Devonport Synthetic over 1150m.
A full brother to the 105 rated Durazzo, who won the Hellova Street Stakes earlier this year, Mazzini ran to 89 in an equally strong time figure, only a length slower than the benchmark 68 on the card and approximately three lengths faster than the Class 1 horses.
According to the Racing And Sports database, Mazzini's adjusted time (for weight and conditions) is the equal-seventh fastest time over the Devonport 1150m on record.
The subsequent rating of 89 ties for second in the overall list with Zany Girl who won the Elwick Stakes in January, which is often the highest rating two-year-old performance of the season.
Plenty to like about both Sanniya and Mazzini who will no doubt have lofty interstate goals to come in their three-year-old season.
Three-Year-Olds
As alluded to earlier, Geegees Mistruth was as good as Sanniya at two (albeit with a couple more starts to her name), and has gone on with it in her three-year-old season, topping the RAS ratings list for her age group this season.
She ran first up at Caulfield and hit a new peak of 104 in the Group 3 Quezette Stakes (1100m), improving again to run 108 in the Group 3 Scarborough Stakes (1200m), narrowly beaten in both.
Her form and ratings tapered off a bit when stepping over more ground before returning home with two dominant wins, taking out the Group 3 Mystic Journey Stakes (1200m) and Group 3 Vamos Stakes (1400m).
Her Mystic Journey win was especially strong, running to 106, just two pounds off her peak and possibly confirming that 1200m is her best trip.
Historically, 106 as a three-year-old in Tasmania is right up there.
Only Mystic Journey at 112 (2019 Thomas Lyons Stakes) and Admiral at 109 (2015 George Adams Plate (now Hellova Street Stakes) have run a better number as a three-year-old on Tassie turf.
It'll be interesting to see if the Gandy stable opt to send her to Melbourne again or keep her in Tasmania. If it's the latter, she can win basically every race she contests, given her 108 peak outstrips any rating run in Tasmania this season, including older horses…
Older Horses
In winning the Group 3 Hobart Cup (2400m), Strawberry Rock took the honours for highest rated older horse in Tasmania this season, matching Geegees Mistruth at 106 for the honour of highest peak rating for the season.
He just edged stablemate Promises Kept (105) in that race and in the ratings, along with Durazzo and First Accused (both 105) who won the Hellova Street and Thomas Lyons Stakes respectively.
That's slightly down on recent years for horses aged four and above in Tasmania, with Hellova Street (110) in the 2019 Thomas Lyons topping that list in the past decade.
Other horses of note in that time include Ho Ho Khan, who won the 2022 Hobart Cup by four lengths with a rating of 109, and the sadly ill-fated The Inevitable, a champion of Tassie racing who held a peak of 107 from 14 wins in his home state while reaching even loftier heights on the mainland.
Time will tell who will take up the mantle of weight-for-age champ in Tasmania, but with historically strong juveniles coming through, the future looks bright.
