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Just looking at the Carlisle and Cumberland Plate on Wednesday, both Class 4 for horses rated below 85. Weight for Age (4yo+ giving 3yo) is 10lb for the Bell and 13lb for the Plate (max weights 9st and 8st11 for 3YO respectively).
The lowest rated 4YO+ in each race is rated 78, meaning that the spread of weights is just 7lb and no 3 Year Olds can get in the race.
If we are going to frame race weights like this, what is the point of opening them up to 3 Year Olds, that can't get in the race?
Either allow higher rated 3 Year Olds to enter or frame the handicap on ratings rather than weight allocated or alternatively just make them 4yo+ Handicaps.
This is why 3 Year Olds can no longer get in lot of the traditional all aged handicap like the Wokingham, Northumberland Plate, John Smith's Cup, Ebor etc. (apologies if any of these are 4yo+ races but just trying to give a few examples from memory)
Do the BHA need to look at this or does it not matter?
The lowest rated 4YO+ in each race is rated 78, meaning that the spread of weights is just 7lb and no 3 Year Olds can get in the race.
If we are going to frame race weights like this, what is the point of opening them up to 3 Year Olds, that can't get in the race?
Either allow higher rated 3 Year Olds to enter or frame the handicap on ratings rather than weight allocated or alternatively just make them 4yo+ Handicaps.
This is why 3 Year Olds can no longer get in lot of the traditional all aged handicap like the Wokingham, Northumberland Plate, John Smith's Cup, Ebor etc. (apologies if any of these are 4yo+ races but just trying to give a few examples from memory)
Do the BHA need to look at this or does it not matter?
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NO - they do not need to look at this.
Three-year -olds also have races confined to their own age - and, hopefully, future years racing ahead of them.
For example, the newly created 6f Commonwealth Cup (admittedly not a Handicap) was worth over twice as much to the winner than the Wokingham
The Winner of the Commonwealth Cup was rated 117 - so, with the 7lb Weight-for-age allowance, would have had top-weight of 9st 10lb had they chosen to run it in the Wokingham.
The 2nd and 3rd in the Commonwealth Cup were rated 2lbs lower (twice) on 115 and 113 - thus 9st 8lb and 9st 6lb, had they run in the Wokingham
Connections chose the Commonwealth Cup - obviously because of the higher prize-money - but, also, because they were racing against their own age, rather than more experienced older horses.
We - and the BHA - should be much more concerned with OLDER, proper 'Handicap horses', rated in the mid-90s and lower, NO longer being able to get into the major Heritage Handicaps - because those races have all become merely narrow-band quasi-Listed races - with a weight range of around just 10lbs ... due to both the BHA and Racecourses developing a fervour for Festival Fever - which in essence does very little for Punters, and makes these privileged Jamborees even more difficult to dissect.
Three-year -olds also have races confined to their own age - and, hopefully, future years racing ahead of them.
For example, the newly created 6f Commonwealth Cup (admittedly not a Handicap) was worth over twice as much to the winner than the Wokingham
The Winner of the Commonwealth Cup was rated 117 - so, with the 7lb Weight-for-age allowance, would have had top-weight of 9st 10lb had they chosen to run it in the Wokingham.
The 2nd and 3rd in the Commonwealth Cup were rated 2lbs lower (twice) on 115 and 113 - thus 9st 8lb and 9st 6lb, had they run in the Wokingham
Connections chose the Commonwealth Cup - obviously because of the higher prize-money - but, also, because they were racing against their own age, rather than more experienced older horses.
We - and the BHA - should be much more concerned with OLDER, proper 'Handicap horses', rated in the mid-90s and lower, NO longer being able to get into the major Heritage Handicaps - because those races have all become merely narrow-band quasi-Listed races - with a weight range of around just 10lbs ... due to both the BHA and Racecourses developing a fervour for Festival Fever - which in essence does very little for Punters, and makes these privileged Jamborees even more difficult to dissect.
Good analysis there Onlooker, you are right that 3 Year Olds have the 'advantage' of being able to race against their own age group. It seems bizarre that these major handicaps now have so little weight range, are we supposed to believe that we have a lot more better horses these days or are the ratings drifting over time in your opinion. I find it strange that according to OR's some former winners of big handicaps would now struggle to get in the consolation races never mind the big event itself.
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