WHAT A BLOODY JOKE!!!!
O.K. If the headline didn't get your attention then read on anyway. Now I know I have had plenty to say from time to time regarding various things "racing" and as far as I am concerned, I will probably continue to. I know I must not open my mouth in the mounting yard and voice my opinion as it can prove very expensive. I don't think that having my say here, will constitute an offence nor, I hope, will it be seen "to be bringing racing into disrepute". (whatever that means!)
What i want to talk about is the weight structure for this years HANNANS HANDICAP. Now before I go any further; Yes I have a runner and Yes it affected my horse probably more than anyone else and Yes I still think she can win in spite of the ridiculous situation that we find ourselves in and Yes I believe the system sucks! Not just because of this race but the system in general. What we now find is that we have a spread of one kilo between top weight and bottom weight in a $120,000 Listed race .
EARLY NOMINATIONS: Why on earth in this day and age race clubs such as the KBRC or any other provincial club for that matter, call for early nominations is beyond me. We can nominate for the $500,000 Group One Lightning Stakes in Victoria five days before the event yet we still have to nominate weeks in advance to run in the unlisted Boulder Cup or the Listed Hannans Handicap. Apart from raising a few extra dollars for the clubs, there is no justifiable reason to continue such a ridiculous and outdated custom.
What this does is help to create the farcical weight structure which exists in this years Hannans Handicap. When nominations were called for (some weeks before the race) the best horse nominated was ARCTIC PARK. By the time the weights were issued (five days before the race) ARCTIC PARK was having a let up after a successful winter campaign. Because he was such a superior horse to the rest of the field, the handicapper compressed the weights to such an extent that there is now no spread in the weights. After acceptances, the weights had to be raised 3.0kg because ARCTIC PARK did not accept for the race. The handicapper gave him a "compressed" weight to give the connections an incentive to start which they declined.
Now this practice of nominating a good horse to compress the weights ( and I am not saying that that is why ARCTIC PARK was nominated but simply the effect of his nomination.) has been going on since Adam was a boy and will continue to take place unless a few things change. Everyone must become far more pro-active. By everyone I mean Race Clubs, Handicappers and Trainers.
There is one simple thing which can help fix the problem and that is scrap the early nomination system for these so called "major races". By having a larger nomination fee at the normal time of nominations, it will lessen the desire for people to nominate and waste money when they really have no intention of running.
What should have happened in the situation that exists is the handicapper could have called the trainer to confirm his intention to start before the weights were issued. Knowing that this one horse was going to have such a marked effect on the weights if it was not going to be a starter, one phone call from a pro-active racing department could have averted this. The other thing which could have happened is the trainer of the horse, also knowing how much the presence of his his horse would effect the weights, could have done the pro-active thing and withdrawn his runner before the weights were to be issued. After all, he was quoted as saying that the horse was left in the field as a mistake. Thanks guys.
Yes I know what most people will be saying. This is just Louie having a whinge again. Well unless we all start to work together in a more pro-active way to make things in the industry better for everyone, we may as well turn our calendars back twenty years. We have all worked and struggled our way through some of the toughest years the industry has known. Lets not go back there. As I said..... WHAT A BLOODY JOKE!
What i want to talk about is the weight structure for this years HANNANS HANDICAP. Now before I go any further; Yes I have a runner and Yes it affected my horse probably more than anyone else and Yes I still think she can win in spite of the ridiculous situation that we find ourselves in and Yes I believe the system sucks! Not just because of this race but the system in general. What we now find is that we have a spread of one kilo between top weight and bottom weight in a $120,000 Listed race .
EARLY NOMINATIONS: Why on earth in this day and age race clubs such as the KBRC or any other provincial club for that matter, call for early nominations is beyond me. We can nominate for the $500,000 Group One Lightning Stakes in Victoria five days before the event yet we still have to nominate weeks in advance to run in the unlisted Boulder Cup or the Listed Hannans Handicap. Apart from raising a few extra dollars for the clubs, there is no justifiable reason to continue such a ridiculous and outdated custom.
What this does is help to create the farcical weight structure which exists in this years Hannans Handicap. When nominations were called for (some weeks before the race) the best horse nominated was ARCTIC PARK. By the time the weights were issued (five days before the race) ARCTIC PARK was having a let up after a successful winter campaign. Because he was such a superior horse to the rest of the field, the handicapper compressed the weights to such an extent that there is now no spread in the weights. After acceptances, the weights had to be raised 3.0kg because ARCTIC PARK did not accept for the race. The handicapper gave him a "compressed" weight to give the connections an incentive to start which they declined.
Now this practice of nominating a good horse to compress the weights ( and I am not saying that that is why ARCTIC PARK was nominated but simply the effect of his nomination.) has been going on since Adam was a boy and will continue to take place unless a few things change. Everyone must become far more pro-active. By everyone I mean Race Clubs, Handicappers and Trainers.
There is one simple thing which can help fix the problem and that is scrap the early nomination system for these so called "major races". By having a larger nomination fee at the normal time of nominations, it will lessen the desire for people to nominate and waste money when they really have no intention of running.
What should have happened in the situation that exists is the handicapper could have called the trainer to confirm his intention to start before the weights were issued. Knowing that this one horse was going to have such a marked effect on the weights if it was not going to be a starter, one phone call from a pro-active racing department could have averted this. The other thing which could have happened is the trainer of the horse, also knowing how much the presence of his his horse would effect the weights, could have done the pro-active thing and withdrawn his runner before the weights were to be issued. After all, he was quoted as saying that the horse was left in the field as a mistake. Thanks guys.
Yes I know what most people will be saying. This is just Louie having a whinge again. Well unless we all start to work together in a more pro-active way to make things in the industry better for everyone, we may as well turn our calendars back twenty years. We have all worked and struggled our way through some of the toughest years the industry has known. Lets not go back there. As I said..... WHAT A BLOODY JOKE!
posted by Lou Luciani at
1:48 pm
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