Chief Stipe Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 Will the first change make it harder for NZ Imports be evening the playing field for Northern Hemisphere Imports? Will the second change allow age aged geldings to compete longer? Your views: _________________________________________ Changes to the initial handicap rating of northern hemisphere-bred griffins, and to weight-for-age allowances in handicap races and Griffin races – Jockey Club media release Handicapping news is not everyone’s cup of tea, but the Jockey Club announced a significant change to its system on Friday. Starting from next season, all unraced horses in Hong Kong – those classified as “private purchase griffins (PPGs)” or “international sale graduates (ISGs)” – will begin their career on a rating of 52, regardless of their age or where they were born. Previously, northern hemisphere-bred horses had an initial rating of 57. In addition, the five-pound weight allowance northern hemisphere three-year-olds receive in handicap races between January 1 and July 16 will be deleted, while the nine-pound weight-for-age allowance southern hemisphere-bred get in Griffin races will be reduced to five pounds, bringing it in line with what two-year-olds already receive in handicap races. That is a lot of technical talk, but what does that mean in real terms? The first change is a big one – and one for the better – and provides a level playing field in a jurisdiction where 98 per cent of the races are open age handicaps. With no breeding industry in Hong Kong, horses come from all parts of the world and this simplifies the process. Under the old system, northern hemisphere-bred three-year-olds could be making their debut (on a rating of 57) and be giving five pounds to a southern hemisphere-bred four-year-old (on a rating of 52). It made no sense so this is a terrific correction. Chief handicapper Nigel Gray explained there were a host of options he and his team looked at – including incremental weight-for-age scales – but ultimately decided a simplistic option would be better for everyone. A HK$2.5 million galloper goes through the ring at the Hong Kong International Sale. Those five ratings points are the equivalent to a narrow win on the track, so in theory, northern hemisphere PPGs should become more attractive prospects for owners in Hong Kong, as they may get another opportunity in Class Four if things fall their way. As of Monday, there were 705 horses who arrived as PPGs, coming from 11 different countries. A whopping 541 (77 per cent) of them come from the southern hemisphere – Australia (335), New Zealand (187), South Africa (16) and Brazil (three). In comparison, there are 77 from Ireland, 44 from Great Britain and 20 from France among the 164 northern hemisphere representatives. There is a hope this change could strike a better balance, provide greater diversity and more options for owners. The second part of the amendment means trainers don’t have to rush and take their horses to the races when they’re not ready to try and take advantage of the weight allowance. It is only a minor adjustment, but also simplifies things. In Hong Kong, changes like this take years to come to fruition. It is hard to break the mould, so those responsible should be commended. Perhaps the next tinker on the agenda could be making the system more fluid so horses could drop ratings points more quickly when they are not competitive and going around at cricket score odds. Two weeks ago, Group One winner Ivictory was retired as a perfectly sound six-year-old with just 16 starts to his credit because he was no longer cutting the mustard at the very top level. His career is one of the more unusual ones – he started off in a blaze of glory, winning seven of his first eight starts, culminating in the 2018 Chairman’s Sprint Prize. Ivictory (left), edges out Mr Stunning and Beat The ClockTED ARTICLES Ivictory went up 21 points to a peak rating of 128 after that Group One win, but retired on a mark of 115 despite not placing in the last 14 months of his career. Owners want to see their horses be competitive and realistically, at the rate he was dropping, it was going to be another year or so until that was going to be the case. If horses are going to be put up that quickly, they also need to drop fast when it is clear they are not up to that level any more. If a golfer was handicapped on their very best score, they’d give the game away pretty quickly. Ivictory should be plying his trade in the Class Two sprinting ranks instead of spending his days at the Beas River riding school. Horses like that shouldn’t be fast-tracked out of the system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mardigras Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 It's good as it levels the playing field. It won't have a huge effect on how things go for horses. But it is definitely worth doing. As for the losing of points, I agree they should go down at the rate that is in line with their performance "over time". That could be quicker than it is. The really interesting part about that for me is that they drop points a lot quicker there than they do here. But again, a method such as the UK one, is better. They will drop more there than in HK there (making the UK system far quicker than here). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Stipe Posted January 4, 2020 Author Share Posted January 4, 2020 5 minutes ago, mardigras said: The really interesting part about that for me is that they drop points a lot quicker there than they do here. Really? When they have the ability to keep horse numbers up to the level they require to fill fields (they just buy them) and we don't? Look at the field sizes today at Ruakaka. That meeting will be a disaster in terms of revenue to the industry. Could have been better with bigger fields or at the very least fields that pay three dividends! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mardigras Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 36 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said: Look at the field sizes today at Ruakaka. That meeting will be a disaster in terms of revenue to the industry. Could have been better with bigger fields or at the very least fields that pay three dividends! A number of factors there. Scheduling. That is piss poor here. Also, the ratio of grade of races may be out here. If you factor in the number of races at each level going up through grades, remove those sold/retired, and consider those that should be dropping back, I'd say they likely have things out of whack. And when you then schedule based on some notion of what you think is needed without any consideration for what horses are wanting to race/grade/distance at that time - you will end up with what we have today. Either way, the process is poor. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curious Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 4 hours ago, mardigras said: A number of factors there. Scheduling. That is piss poor here. Also, the ratio of grade of races may be out here. If you factor in the number of races at each level going up through grades, remove those sold/retired, and consider those that should be dropping back, I'd say they likely have things out of whack. And when you then schedule based on some notion of what you think is needed without any consideration for what horses are wanting to race/grade/distance at that time - you will end up with what we have today. Either way, the process is poor. Dead on and so simple to substantively sort in 5 minutes. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.