HOW THE HANDICAPPERS RATED THE FEATURES

The exciting Rockpool has had his merit rating raised from 88 to 101 after winning the Gr3 Politician Stakes for three-year-olds over 1800m on the summer course at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on Saturday.

The Handicappers were unanimous in their view that 4th placed GRINKOV made for the most suitable line horse, leaving him unchanged on a mark of 102.

There were also ratings increases for 2nd placed WITHOUT QUESTION, who goes up from 88 to 99, and for 5th finisher NARINA TROGON, who was raised from 85 to 87 to make him higher than the 86-rated 7th placed BLACKBERRY MALT.

There were drops for two horses. FAMOUS AND RICH is down from 96 to 93, while DOWSER drops from 84 to 83.

Gr3 Sea Cottage Stakes

BILLY BOWLEGS has had his rating raised from 100 to 106 following his win in the Grade 3 Sea Cottage Stakes for three-year-olds over 1800m on the standside track at Turffontein on Sunday. The Handicappers believed that 3rd placed BONETE made for the most suitable line horse here, leaving her unchanged on a rating of 97.

In assessing the race this way BILLY BOWLEGS actually runs to a mark of 110, but the specific race conditions do not allow for a more than six-pound increase in the winner’s rating and so the Handicappers were obliged to cap BILLY BOWLEGS at 106.

The race conditions also do not permit any ratings increase for any horse other than the winner. Accordingly, runnerup NONE OTHER remains on 101 despite running to a mark of 104. AFRICAN TORRENT, KING OF ROME, and OTTO LUYKEN all run above their marks as well, but remain on 85, 77, and 89 respectively.

The only drop was for RYAN’S DREAM, who is down from 81 to 79.

Listed Swallow Stakes

KISS ME CAPTAIN has had her rating raised from 98 to 104 after she won the Listed Swallow Stakes for threeyear-old fillies over 1160m at Turffontein on Sunday.

Runner-up MAHARANEE was deemed to make for the best line horse here, which leaves her unaltered on a mark of 112.

Here too the specific race conditions do not permit a more than six-pound increase for the winner, with no increase at all for any other runner, so the Handicappers were obliged to cap KISS ME CAPTAIN at 104 even though she actually ran to a mark of 111. Likewise, 3rd placed SOUTHERN SKIES remains unchanged on a mark of 98 despite actually achieving a rating of 104.

Two horses were given a drop. SWEET PEPPER is down from 113 to 111, while STRIKE A MATCH drops to 87 from 90.

Clerk of the course Jon Pullin remains optimistic that Saturday’s Trials day at Cheltenham will go ahead, with frost covers expected to be deployed later in the week.

The track was hit with a minor setback yesterday after temperatures reached -6.5C overnight, but Pullin is confident his team will be able to handle conditions due to a positive forecast in the coming days.

Speaking yesterday afternoon he said: "Unfortunately we had a sharp frost last night and more than what was forecast. We thought it'd be between www.racingpost.com

-3C and -4C, but it got down to -6.5C and it has pushed us back a little today.

"Temperatures have risen to 6C today and on Wednesday we're expecting the daytime figures to read between 7C and 8C, which will certainly help.

"We might just get down to 0C on Wednesday night, but Thursday is another positive day with temperatures at 5C and 6C."

Cheltenham will host nine races on its Trials day card on Saturday, including the Grade 1 Clarence House Chase. The first race is at 11.40am.

Pullin said: "I'm hopeful we'll be frost-free by Thursday afternoon. If we are then we may look to cover the track for protection because we're expecting temperatures of -1C on Friday night into Saturday morning.

"Just before this cold spell started, we were looking like we'd be clear of it all last weekend, but it kept creeping forward. It's due to be like this until the end of the week and it's certainly longer than we were anticipating."