The son of Parade Leader will be carrying 59.5kg in the R3-million Grade 1 race over 2200m at Greyville, while Pocket Power, who won this race in 2008, has just 0.5kg more to shoulder.
``Rudra has been buried by handicapper,’’ said De Kock yesterday. ``They’ve dropped Pocket Power three points, from 120 to 117, after he finished third in two Grade 1 races, and they leave Rudra, who ran behind him, as he is at 116.
``You can run them against each other 10 times and Pocket Power would beat Rudra at least nine out of 10. Rudra’s a solid horse, but he’s not Pocket Power.’’
In the Gold Challenge over 1600m at Clairwood at level weights, Pocket Power finished 3.05 lengths ahead of Rudra. The Mike Bass runner was dropped one point, Rudra remained the same.
In the Champions Cup over 1800m Pocket Power again finished third with Rudra, who carrying 2.5kg less, another 8.75 lengths behind the Jet Master gelding. Once again Pocket Power’s rating drops two more points while Rudra’s remained unchanged.
Interestingly Rudra ran again in a Pinnacle Stakes over 1800m in which he was weighted to be almost a racing certainty. This time he ran an improved race but still only finished third, beaten by two horses who he met at level weights, but to whom he should have been giving many kilograms – Flying Tristram and Fort Vogue.
In the Durban July, Rudra meets all his conquerors on worse terms, giving him virtually no chance of being competitive in the race.
``It’s a complete disgrace. I would like to know how a handicapper can justify this,’’ said De Kock. ``They should admit when they’ve made a mistake. They had their chance to drop him and they didn’t take it.
``Handicappers need to err on the side of the horse, not on the side of their egos. I give them credit when they’re right but I will nail them when they’re wrong. When they lost the merit rating appeal after the Met, I stood up for them.’’
De Kock pointed out that when Russian Sage was with him in Dubai he raced off a 118. ``Russian Sage then went to England where his action was unsuited to their undulating tracks and they dropped him to a 104 - and that’s his rating in the July.
``I wish our handicappers would look at how quickly he came down.’’