Insight Analysis
Talking Points: Gold Rush Day 2025
The Pinnacles wrapped up on Saturday – how did the key winners rate?
The Gold Rush – Rey Magnerio
Rey Magnerio had no problem seeing out 1400m, given a beautiful ride by Pike to overhaul Overpass and hold out Cosmic Crusader.
He's run to a Racing & Sports rating of 119 which is a new peak, up from a previous high of 115, which he'd run over 1000m and 1100m in the past.
The pace was relatively good here – Overpass set up a much quicker time figure here despite going from 1200m to 1400m, running very boldly for third and improving by one pound (117-118) on his Winterbottom defeat.
Sectionally, the run of Cosmic Crusader was outstanding. Coming back from 1800m of the Northerly Stakes, he ran his final 600m around three lengths faster than the winner, and using theTimeform
method for determining sectional imbalance, he just edges Rey Magnerio as the run of the race.Horses coming back from the Northerly have typically struggled in The Gold Rush, albeit off a small sample size, with horses coming through The Winterbottom off a two-week break far better suited, which proved the case.
Cosmic Crusader was excellent but just found himself out-paced a bit early from the wide gate and the sprinters a touch sharp, but he's firmly established himself as the best horse in Western Australia.
With RAS ratings of 116, 120 and now 118 his past three, and arguably even a bit of upside, it'll be interesting to see if they bring the five-year-old East.
In terms of Gold Rush winners, Rey Magnerio is now the highest rated at 119, beating out Western Empire (116), The Astrologist (115) and Munhamek (112).
The winning standard has clearly gone up with the new Pinnacles concept and extra money, with the race formerly known as the A.J. Scahill Stakes.
The best winners of that race in recent times are Vega Magic (116) and Kementari (114).
Black Heart Bart Stakes – Smooth Chino
It's worth touching on the win of unbeaten gelding Smooth Chino who handled his first foray into Listed company with ease, tracking the leader and sprinting away for another soft victory.
He's improved his rating almost every time he's gone to the races, going 69-85-105 in his first three runs, resuming off 259 days this time in at 100 before going 105 and 113 on Saturday.
The time looks strong, around 3/4 of a second inside the RAS standard time for the Ascot 1200m, and faster than the other 1200m races on the card by around four lengths, both of whom snuck inside standard as well.
Not sure if he presses on this campaign, but I daresay Indianna Weinert will have her eyes firmly set on The Quokka in April.
Outside of Jokers Grin, I think there's a case to be made Smooth Chino is the next best sprinter in WA. Perhaps not quite on ratings as of yet, but he's rising quickly.
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