Jacquinot will not be the first son of Rubick to meet Nature Strip in The Everest, but the Golden Rose winner’s assignment looks significantly tougher than the one that confronted the last son of the now-Swettenham Stud-Based stallion to attempt it.
Yes Yes Yes put Rubick on the map with his win in the 2019 The Everest, an edition in which Nature Strip could manage only fourth.
But the Nature Strip of 2022 is vastly superior to the 2019 model.
The Chris Waller-trained superstar posted a Timeform rating of 120 in the 2019 The Everest but has not rated below 125 in a Group 1 race or equivalent – ie: The Everest – since running 116 in the Darley Sprint Classic in November 2020.
That’s a daunting prospect for Jacquinot, who put up a 120 Timeform figure in the Golden Rose.
But not one that should have connections running scared of any other horse they might meet in the $15 million event at Randwick on October 15 according to Racing And Sports head of handicapping Simon Dinopoulos.
“Yes Yes Yes was rated 122 off his Golden Rose second placing and ran 125 to win the Everest, so Jacquinot profiles to run similar numbers in the Everest, although that still comes up short as a winning prospect with Nature Strip projected to run up to 130,” Dinopoulos said.
“He is likely to be running for second but if he can show the same improvement as Yes Yes Yes and run 123, that gives him as good a chance as any to run a place.”
Last year’s placegetters, Masked Crusader and Eduardo, both ran to 125, but in 2020 Bivouac and Gytrash went 119 and 117 when second and third respectively behind Classique Legend (128).
In 2019, behind Yes Yes Yes, runner-up Santa Ana Lane ran to 123 and third placegetter Trekking 122.
Jacquinot’s Golden Rose rating was a clear career peak, up on 112, and was the highest Timeform rating returned by any horse born in Australia in 2019, bettering the two 118 figures Fireburn ran as a two-year-old.
But it was still well short of the highest rating recording in a Golden Rose – Exosphere’s 127 in 2015 – but was two points higher than Ole Kirk ran two years ago and equal to other recent winners In The Congo and The Autumn Sun.
“Jacquinot was the third highest-rated colt at two, but now has clearly established him as the best of his generation surpassing both Best of Bordeaux and Daumier, who went 113 when winning the Blue Diamond,” Dinopoulos said.
Best Of Bordeaux rated 115 when finishing second in the Golden Slipper, the same mark returned by Zou Tiger and Golden Mile, the third and fourth placegetters in the Golden Rose.
Highest-rating Golden Rose winners (as a Group 1)
127 – Exosphere
126 – Astern
125 – Manawanui
124 – Denman
123 – Bivouac
122 – Trapeze Artist
121 – Epaulette, Zoustar
120 – The Autumn Sun, In The Congo, Jacquinot
119 – Toorak Toff, Hallowed Crown
118 – Ole Kirk
