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Bit Of A Yarn

Thoroughbred wastage...Maiden Handicaps


Thomass

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What a terrible waste of horseflesh NZTR are allowing in refusing to program maiden handicap races.

Long suffering owners of maiden horses with 20 plus starts having to front at set weights & P's with younger more talented horses who can be stakes placed is what you call totally unfair.

Britain has a system where after 3 starts a horse will receive a handicap.  That could be the case here in maiden handicaps with perhaps a mixture of SW & P's on Saturdays and also handicaps with a mix up allowed

Handicap racing promotes betting and far more interest and simply programming a continuation of the same as now only encourages average horses to be retired early or be exported to deep, dark cold Gorrre.  And what maiden wants that? 

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2 hours ago, Thomass said:

What a terrible waste of horseflesh NZTR are allowing in refusing to program maiden handicap races.

Long suffering owners of maiden horses with 20 plus starts having to front at set weights & P's with younger more talented horses who can be stakes placed is what you call totally unfair.

Britain has a system where after 3 starts a horse will receive a handicap.  That could be the case here in maiden handicaps with perhaps a mixture of SW & P's on Saturdays and also handicaps with a mix up allowed

Handicap racing promotes betting and far more interest and simply programming a continuation of the same as now only encourages average horses to be retired early or be exported to deep, dark cold Gorrre.  And what maiden wants that? 

A better fate than when Clover Meats was in operation....

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12 hours ago, Doomed said:

Maidens did use to be handicaps in NZ. It was actually quite hard for a really consistent horse to get out of maiden ranks as they were always giving weight to up and comers.

Actually that rings a bell now you mention it

The same applies to other rating bands doesn't it?  Consistent horses tend to gravitate to the top but that's 'handicap' racing for you 

Trainers can run horses from outside barriers, unsuitable tracks or inexperienced apprentice to get their rating down.  It's all part of 'racing' as we know it but in the end handicap racing promotes and encourages betting

As I say there can be a mix of set weights and handicap maidens here as there is in  Australia.

For example there's a 100K Maiden Handicap at Rosehill today. 

When well know form expert Dominic Beirne recommended changes to WA's programming he reasoned

What are the benefits of Maiden handicaps?

As with all other handicap races, maiden handicap provide the opportunity for horses to be weighted based on their previous performances rather than running under set-weight conditions only.  This is expected to provide Owners of lower rated maiden horses the chance of winning a race at that level.
 
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1 hour ago, Thomass said:

For example there's a 100K Maiden Handicap at Rosehill today.

Really?  Seems like a 3yr old handicap race to me.  You'll be backing number 5 Jolly Good Fellow.  Blinkers for the first time even though it isn't after Christmas.  Bought by Brett Thompson Racing for $160,000 at the Magic Millions.

 

screenshot-www_racenet_com_au-2024_11_13-11_21_25.png

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13 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said:

Really?  Seems like a 3yr old handicap race to me.  You'll be backing number 5 Jolly Good Fellow.  Blinkers for the first time even though it isn't after Christmas.  Bought by Brett Thompson Racing for $160,000 at the Magic Millions.

 

screenshot-www_racenet_com_au-2024_11_13-11_21_25.png

That's right it's a MAIDEN HANDICAP

Saturday's will have a mix of maiden handicaps and set weight maidens

Recently we introduced 3yo Handicaps to help out horses who were only being given 1kg weight relief at SW & P's

winners would normally  attract 2/212kgs penalty in a handicap race, certainly not 1kg

Very unfair to lesser performed horses and doesn't attract greater betting

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Here's an idea out of left field then.  Entain and NZTR love a novelty race.  I propose a (pick a number) say a 15+ start maiden with a big stake attached.  The race would be quite even albeit at the bottom end of the scale but, it would prove a good betting race.  The Melbourne Cup proves that the public don't care about the quality of the runners.

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