Upcoming series on racehorse rescue, . . .

[vineyridge]

[QUOTE=Shammy Davis;8886061]
You and Joe Clancy are on the same page. There are those that disagree. See the comments following the article.

http://thisishorseracing.com/news/index.php/easyblog/entry/time-for-racing-to-claim-a-change

As you probably know. Australia doesn’t have claiming races. They, like other countries, have an unwanted problem and their share of the international breeding market is increasing . Very complicated issue. OZ is trying to get its act in order as this link indicates.

https://www.thoroughbredracing.com/articles/australian-racing-offence-about-racehorse-retirement/[/QUOTE]

At least I’m in good company. The only racing jurisdictions that rely on claiming are in North America. The rest of the world does quite well without it.

[Shammy_Davis]

[QUOTE=vineyridge;8886281]
At least I’m in good company. The only racing jurisdictions that rely on claiming are in North America. The rest of the world does quite well without it.[/QUOTE]

“Rely” being the best characterization for North America. The UK provides for claiming within the framework of its two major classes of racing. Still a reliance on claiming and selling but not so obvious to the public.

https://www.flatstats.co.uk/horse-race-information.html

E

[vineyridge]

Well, it made me wonder how many selling and claiming races are run per year in the UK compared to all races, and how that figure would compare in the US.

I’m too lazy to look up the numbers, though.

Their claiming races end with “auctions” after the race; their selling races have prices based on handicaps.

[Drvmb1ggl3]

Claiming races make up a very tiny portion of races run in GB*. Selling/auction races are slightly more, but still a small number. France has more Claiming races (called Claimant), but even there they probably make up less than 10% of all races, maybe even less than 5%.

The lion’s share of day to day races in those jurisdictions are Handicap races, where weight is used to level the playing field.

*Note - not to be overly pedantic, but I see the term “UK” used a lot on this forum. There is no “UK” in horse racing jurisdictions. There is Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) where the British Horseracing Authority is the governing body of the sport. Horse racing in Northern Ireland falls under the jurisdiction of Horse Racing Ireland, an all-island, cross border governing body for racing in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

This set up isn’t unique to horse racing. You also see it in Equestrian sports… you’ve never seen a “UK” showjumping or eventing team, have you? It’s always GB (Eng/Sco/Wal).

[Drvmb1ggl3]

Btw, to give you a taste of what a Handicap race can look like, here is the field for a Nursery (2yo) Handicap race tomorrow at Nottingham, over 1mile…-
http://www.racingpost.com/horses2/cards/card.sd?race_id=659209&r_date=2016-10-12#raceTabs=sc_

The number 1 (in Handicap races, the horses are always number in order of weight, hightest to lowest) has an Official Handicap Rating of 70, and is carrying 9st-7lb, that is 133lbs in American parlance. That’s right, a 2yo carrying 133lbs.
The bottom weight of the 17 runners (that’s right, 17 runners) has an Official Handicap Rating of 48, and is carrying 8st-0lbs, or 112lbs in American. So the high weight horse is giving the lowest ranked horse a 21lb concession.

Now the eagle eyed of you will say… “but isn’t 70 minus 48 not 22? and therefore the lowest ranked horse should be getting a 22lb weight concession?” Technically correct, but you will see a note below the card that says “Long Handicap, TigerFish 7st-13lb”. This means that TigerFish, the lowest ranked horse in the field is running “out of the handicap” by 1lb, because 112lb is the lowest weigh allowed.

Btw, these are pretty low ranked horses. The highest ranked horse in the field has an Official Rating of 70, which is about equivalent to a $10k claimer. Yet he is still carrying 133lb.
So it always cracks me up when people say stuff like “Curlin/Chrome carried 131lbs when he raced in Dubai!!”, like it was some kind of major achievment. Here you have a 2yo carrying 133lbs, and not a very good one at that.
Weight carried is meaningless. It’s the amount you are conceding to your opponents that matters.

[Shammy_Davis]

Weight for age is a joke in North America currently. The humane way to to deal with this issue would be to allow jockeys three square meals a day and a few extra pounds. Just another example of horse racing leadership with its head in the sand. Bettors and fans, as Vineyridge pointed out, could care less about speed. They want to see a competitive race and lose or win a couple of bucks.

Must admit it is hard for me to get my head into all the Brit numbers.
but your turf writers and handicapping help.

Back to the OP, the Brits have a substantial unwanted problem also.

http://www.raceadvisor.co.uk/happens-horse-retires/