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There was a Grade 2 novice hurdle at Cheltenham this afternoon, part of the pattern of such races leading up to the Supreme Novices in March. I’d always assumed the purpose of these races was to identify the best horses in each discipline, in this case the 2M novice hurdlers.
So why did today’s race, in common with other Grade 2 contests later in the season, have a penalty structure that lumbers the winners of ordinary novice hurdles with extra weight.
The winner today had a 4lb penalty for scoring in a mundane NH novice worth £5k at Wincanton. The runner-up had a 7lb penalty for winning a maiden hurdle!
I’d expect there would be penalties for previous winners of a Grade 2 or a Grade 1, but what is the benefit of penalising every novice race winner?
There’s certainly no equivalent system on the flat – maiden winners don’t carry a penalty in a Listed race, let alone a Group 2.
AP
The winner today had a 4lb penalty for scoring in a mundane NH novice worth £5k at Wincanton. The runner-up had a 7lb penalty for winning a maiden hurdle!
Looks like the penalties weren’t stiff enough
If they didn’t give them a penalty they would just keep running in mundane novice hurdles for as long as possible. 5k a week ain’t bad wages
The point is you should be penalised for previous wins when running again in mundane novice hurdles. You shouldn’t be penalised when you’re running in G2 races.
The point is you should be penalised for previous wins when running again in mundane novice hurdles. You shouldn’t be penalised when you’re running in G2 races.
Why?
Because it’s like making the Stratford-upon-Avon sprint champion run with a weight around his neck against Asafa Powell, who tripped at the start of his last race and only finished third. It belies even the most basic logic and as such is totally in keeping with the way horseracing is run in this country.
There is a vast class difference between a £5,000 novice event at Wincanton and a Grade 2 at Cheltenham, one being the first step toward the other. It seems a little harsh to penalise a horse in supposedly top class company for winning, potentially, a low level race.
Escuse me if I am being a little naive here, but what you are saying is if a horse wins a Grade 2 hurdle he shouldn’t get any penalty because it was at a lesser track.
Just 2 bad if Istabraq went to Wincanton for a bit of experience and you were beaten a head I suppose. How is the handicapper supposed to know if the horse you just finsihed second too is a potential Cheltenham horse or not…….use a crystal ball?
So we do it your way and a horse can then win a few grade 2 hurdles round Wetherby and then run in a handicap hurdle, with virtually no weight on his back?
I might have the wrong end of the stick here, but that might raise a few eybrows, don’t you think?
I will say is I am no expert when it comes to handicapping but there seems to be no logic in what you are saying.
Do they get it wrong?………biggest boo boo I ever saw is when the Handicapper put Flying Bolt up there with Arkle because they both beat the same horse or some crap like that. Height of Fashion was it?
Trainers moan their heads off when they think they have had a raw deal. Usually after the form their horses were assessed on turns out to be crap
That is why you have to have guide lines and set rules in racing……if it were based only on an indivuduals guestimations we would be in a much worse mess IMO
Escuse me if I am being a little naive here, but what you are saying is if a horse wins a Grade 2 hurdle he shouldn’t get any penalty because it was at a lesser track.
No Fist, that’s NOT what he’s saying.Try reading it again.
Fist of Fury,
The point I am making is that in a Grade 2 race such as the one at Cheltenham it seems odd that the winner of a maiden hurdle (regardless of what track staged the maiden hurdle) should carry the same penalty as a previous winner of a Grade 2 hurdle.
Your confusion seems to stem from the idea that Grade 2 hurdles are commonplace and that a horse could run up a sequence. That’s not the case – there are only six Grade 2 novice hurdles over two miles in the entire season.
Above those are just two Grade 1 2M novice hurdles – the Tolworth at Sandown and the Supreme Novices at Cheltenham.
Perhaps you are confusing Grade 2 with Class 2 – they are totally different things.
AP
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