Really quite pleased to hear about Racing Victoria’s Grand Handicap Series initiative in 2017.
For quite some time I have been frustrated with the limited spread in the weights of our handicaps in Australia. Especially open handicaps at metropolitan meetings, but also benchmark races through each week.
It is very common to see races run with the top three or four horses only carrying above the minimum weight, and the bulk of the field on the minimum despite a big differential in their ratings. This restricts the incentive to run lower-rated but progressive horses in higher benchmark races, as they often carry the same weight as horses rated significantly higher than them under the current system. This stifles field sizes down through the grades, and wagering.
From racing.com, here is the announcement.
Racing Victoria and the Victoria Racing Club have announced the Grand Handicap Series, a rich initiative that culminates at Flemington in March.
The March 18 meeting at Headquarters will feature the respective finals of the 1200m, 1600m and 2000m race series, with the stakes for each final set at $150,000.
The races will be on the same card as the Group 2 Blamey Stakes (1600m), and Group 3 Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes (1200m) – which have been shifted from Super Saturday (March 11).
To gain an exemption into the respective finals, there will be six subsequent heats per distance range held at country racetracks in the weeks preceding – for Benchmark 64 and 70 horses.
The Grand Handicaps will be held as Benchmark 80 races, with 62kg for an 80-rater and 53kg for the minimum.
“What a great opportunity this presents connections to aim their horses towards a feature metropolitan race during the Festival of Racing,” Racing Victoria’s chief handicapper Greg Carpenter said.
“There is no other series quite like it from a handicap perspective, and given the wide spread between the top and bottom weighted horses, we believe it presents an even playing field for everyone.”
For details on the heats for the Grand Handicap series, click here.
As a result of the new series, the “standalone” Saturday Bendigo meeting moves to April 1 – coinciding with day one of The Championships in Sydney.
I hope this initiative is treated as a bit of trial for a more permanent review of our handicapping system, similar to the one announced by Racing New South Wales this week. RNSW are dropping the minimum weight from 54kg down to 53kg. Combined with a minimum top-weight of 61kg, this potential spread of 8kg is 2kg greater than Vitoria. I suspect it will aid field sizes as there is greater incentive for lower-rated horses being tested in higher benchmark handicaps.
Nigel