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<br>The change is that the allowances in chases now reduce by 1lb every two weeks, instead of the current 1lb per month.
A key effect will be that 5-y-olds will now run at level weights with older horses in the Arkle.
Long overdue, but still means that chasers get weight allowances that don’t exist for hurdlers of the same age, which doesn’t make much sense.
AP
Fair enough, I suppose, but I don’t think it’ll have much effect on the volume of imports from France.
It’s not much of a compliment to UK and Irish breeders, who don’t seem able to produce these earlier-maturing jumpers – it’s either flat types or slow-developing stores, with not much in between.
The hurdling division is a bit different, the flat-bred horses are more or less on an equal footing with young French hurdlers.
A big difference between French and UK NH racing is that the French have a major program of races for three year olds compared to a limited one in this country. Either as a result of that, or because that’s just the way the French train, French horses are trained hard from an early age. If they are tough enough they survive the process, but whether or not that means they burn out earlier than GB trained horses, personally wouldn’t know.
Another factor is that not all French jumpers are pure thoroughbreds. Selle Francais horses are basically thoroughbreds crossed with regional breeds, I suppose to introduce hardiness. A number of French jumpers are Anglo-Arabs, Azertyuiop being a notable example of a succesful import to the UK from that breed – according to an article in the March issue of Pacemaker.
Suppose that if an owner/trainer has the money to buy a French bred horse that has survived their training process and shown ability on the track, that’s gives a reasonable chance he or she will do better in Novice, etc races than a tradititional GB store.And if he/she doesn’t burn out too quickly, go on to do well.
richard
Good chasers are getting younger and younger, so I think this was always going to happen one day, although I’m a bit surprised it’s come so quickly.
I’m not sure about scrapping them for 4-y-o’s. They are generally in need of a little help, and by the time the big chases come round they’ll be 5 anyway.
<br>Nicholls is particularly scathing of the new ruling in his column on Teletext tonight.
He argues that the allowances were open to any trainer that had a 4 or 5yo so why not just get on with it. He also states that Flagship Uberalles was from Ireland so it wasn’t just the french-breds that we reaping the rewards…
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