Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 6:51 am Post subject: Weights
Understanding of the weights is one of the most vital things in horse racing. They gauge the quality of the horse, in the opinion of the official handicapper, Phil Smith, and therefore that decides how much weight a horse should give or receive in a handicap.
Official ratings, or 'OR's, are awarded to a horse after his/her first victory or after 3 runs, whichever comes soonest. The alloted OR (handicap mark) then gives them many options. They can race the horse in a handicap, or go for Listed/Group races, or Sellers/Claimers/Maidens/Novice/Beginners' races.
For instance, if a horse is rated 67 and he is entered in a 0-65 race, he/she must carry 2lbs overweight.
The top weighted horse is always alloted 11 stone and 12 pounds over the jumps. There are 14 pounds per stone, so in this instance, the horse would have to carry 12 stone exactly.
Apprentice jockeys, or claimers, claim weight back, and are very handy in this instance. Dependent on how many winners the jockey has ridden, he/she will be eligible to claim 3lb, 5lb or 7lb back. So to continue this example, the horse rated 67 who must carry 12 stone in a 0-65 race, only has to carry 11 stone 7 lbs if ridden by a 7lb claimer.
The change in the weight will not be taken into account when the racecard is printed. So if you see a 7lb claimer riding a horse weighted with 11-12, the actual weight is 11-5. When the results are printed, the claimed 7lb will be taken into account.
Apprentice jockeys may not ride in the Grand National.
Similarly, there is something known as riding underweight, more commonly known as 'running out of the handicap'.
Just as top weight is 11-12, bottom weight is 10-0 - 26 pounds difference between them. If top weight is due to be carried by a horse rated 150, a horse rated 124 will carry 10-0. But if the horse is rated 123, in effect he will carry 9-13. This is called 'running from out of the handicap'. While his/her rating stipulates that he/she should carry 9-13, he/she will carry 10-0, and be 1lb 'overweight'.
Theoretically, using this system in handicaps, the top weighted horse will always be the best horse in the race.
Horses can also have a maximum of 4 different official ratings. One for chasing, one for hurdling, one for the flat, one for the all-weather.
What is a common practice, due to harsh ratings, is that connections will take advantage of a lower rating on a different 'code' (different style of racing, ie. hurdles, flat, AW, chases) to be more competitive in a big race. A recent example is Jack the Giant.
Over hurdles, he was rated 32lbs worse than over fences. Connections ran him twice in a week over hurdles and he picked up 2 very big pots. He is still rated 13lbs worse over hurdles than over fences.
With 'early closing' races, horses can be made to carry additional weight. An 'early closing' race is one where all possible runners must be declared, with weights allocated to each of the runners. The two major races I can think of are the Welsh Grand National and the Grand National, but there are many big handicaps that do the same.
The Grand National weights are released on February 5th I believe. If a horse wins a race over fences after February 5th and before the Grand National, depending on the quality of the victory, he/she may have to carry a 'penalty' in the Grand National, which tends to be 5, 6 or 7lbs.
An example of this is Dream Alliance. On December 1st 2007 he finished 2nd in the Hennessy Gold Cup, and improved his rating from 142 to 149. But as the weights for the Welsh Grand National had already been published, he was allowed to race off his old handicap mark of 142 in that race. But now if his next race is a handicap, he'll take a rating of 149 in and be weighted based on that.
To give you an idea of the quality of a 149 horse, Kauto Star is currently rated 180.
Last edited by jackane24 on Fri Jan 25, 2008 9:05 am; edited 1 time in total
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Apprentice jockeys, or claimers, claim weight back, and are very handy in this instance. Dependent on how many winners the jockey has ridden, he/she will be eligible to claim 3lb, 5lb or 7lb back. So to continue this example, the horse rated 67 who must carry 12 stone in a 0-65 race, only has to carry 11 stone 4 lbs if ridden by a 7lb claimer.
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would it not be 11 stone 7, as you said 14 lbs in a stone _________________ Chuck Norris destroyed the periodic table, because he only recognizes the element of surprise
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