British Handicapper

13lb higher than his Irish mark that should say ^

You can get 140 for winning a novice hurdle around sedgefield so i'd say 146 for being a few lengths off the best juveniles in ireland is fine.

Making sure he doesn't make the same horlicks as he did with Campeador/Flaxen Flare again imo.

Phil Smith is on ATR on Thursday so you can ask him.

Although appears harsh if the handicapper didn't change their Irish marks then you would have numourous horses running in the handicaps with a stone in hand!!

Duffy, which programme on Thursdays ATR is Phil Smith on? Will look to record it.

"Ask The Handicapper" usually on in the morning sometime, Chapman tweeted about the program earlier on. There isn't a slot entitled it on the sky planner like the form factor is on the same day, so best to tape right through the morning to make sure.

deeping

Is that you on chapmans twitter asking about it?

Never mind the sound of a cuckoo being the first sign of spring, the first Irish whinge about the Cheltenham Handicap ratings is surely the sign that the Festival is all but upon us.

Ironically, when the weights come out in a month or so, many of the same trainers will be complaining their horses are not rated highly enough to get in.

Defi Du Seuil is rated 155. If Smith (or whichever one of his minions handicaps the juvenile hurdlers) lets Mega Fortune run off 130 he is basically saying the best of the Irish have approximately 20lbs to find to beat DDS in the Triumph Hurdle. That could end up leaving him looking very silly.

Elliott could have entered Mega Fortune in the Triumph Hurdle trial at Cheltenham on Saturday (better prize money down to 6th) - he chose to enter him in the handicap hurdle.

Perhaps he just wanted to see what rating MF gets with a view to planning for the Fred Winter or maybe letting him take his chance in the Triumph, perhaps he'll run him this weekend anyway and make use of 11lb wfa allowance.

It does seem weird that DDS is 155 and Neon Wolf is only 148 - but probably different individuals handicapping the novice hurdlers vs the juvenile hurdlers so DDS rating has more relevance for Mega Fortune than Neon Wolf surely.

Update Duffy. Slot on ATR now on Sky Planner as 11am tomorrow just before Thurles racing starts. Hurrah. PS wasn't me tweeting.

No, I Should have said Paterson, whoever it was, was going on about mega fortune.

If I was cynically minded I would accuse the Irish handicappers of attempting to give their English counterparts a bum steer.

British handicappers are obsessed by preventing slippage, and this has led to the two countries' rating systems getting out of kilter as the better horses stayed in Ireland, with the British being too high imo. The same sort of thing can lead to a north/south divide inside Britain.

1-0 to the British Handicapper.

Perhaps Elliott should write him a thank you letter for enabling him to win a Grade 1, rather than putting him away for a 24 runner handicap in which anything can happen.