Jockey Bernard Fayd’herbe said WSB Cape Guineas winner Silver Mountain “didn’t raise a gallop” in the Gr 2 Daisy Guineas on Friday night.

His brother Robert, who is taking care of Mike Bass’s SA Champions Season string at Summerveld, has also been left mystified as the star filly has pulled up 100% fine.

Silver Mountain (Liesl King)

The diminutive Silvano filly lacked her normal zip and might not have enjoyed the going on the night, which appeared to be soft.

She finished a 5,5 length fifth having turned for home perfectly placed to pounce from a midfield position on the rail.

The stablemate from the Mike Bass yard Nightingale ran a cracker to finish second and will relish the extra trip of the Gr 1 Woolavington 2000.

Bernard was also aboard a fancied disappointment in the Gr 2 Canon Guineas, the Justin Snaith-trained Baritone, who was moving up well before running out of steam.

However, he reported to the stipendiary stewards the colt had “choked up in the latter stages.”

Meanwhile, some anomalies have already surfaced out of the new handicapping guidelines, which the handicappers had forced upon them despite being strongly opposed to some of the new restrictive measures.

For example, Nightingale could only be raised to a 92 merit rating due to the rule a Gr 2 runner up can only be raised a maximum of five points.

This means she would receive 3kg from Daisy Guineas fourth-placed Flying Ice in a handicap, despite having beaten her on Friday night by 3,5 lengths.

Another example is the Joey Soma-trained Fortissima, who is currently merit rated 82, despite having finished second in the Gr 2 R1 million SA Oaks.

By David Thiselton