Rating of ex Irish horses

[SirHarryLewis]

Explain something to me. Irish horse gets sold to the UK to go handicap chasing. Why isnt his official rating the same as it was in Ireland and how does the Uk handicapper arrive at the figure. I notice the number is often very different (105 as opposed to 117 for example?) and I cant understand why there would be such a disparity.

I know little about the subject.

SHL

[Gingertipster]

I believe the British handicapper has his own handicap of Irish racing SHL. So they will be different because of that. But also…

I know it was and believe it still is true – that the Irish and English handicaps are also on different scales. Similar to Centigrade and Farenheight with temperatures. Therefore, the English handicap mark will often appear higher, when it is not necessarily the case.

So (I could very well be wrong) as I understand: If the English Handicapper believes a horse is 3 lbs better than the Irish Handicapper – instead of a rating 3 lbs higher he would get something like a 10 lb "higher" mark.

Value Is Everything

[SirHarryLewis]

I believe the British handicapper has his own handicap of Irish racing SHL. So they will be different because of that. But also…

I know it was and believe it still is true – that the Irish and English handicaps are also on different scales. Similar to Centigrade and Farenheight with temperatures. Therefore, the English handicap mark will often appear higher, when it is not necessarily the case.

So (I could very well be wrong) as I understand: If the English Handicapper believes a horse is 3 lbs better than the Irish Handicapper – instead of a rating 3 lbs higher he would get something like a 10 lb "higher" mark.

Thanks Ginge,

It would certainly explain some of the discrepancies.

JC

SHL

[apracing]

SHL,

The main reason for the way the two countries have diverged is the approach to allocating an initial handicap mark to novices.

In Ireland, a maiden or novice hurdle/chase winner is usually given a rating that will give it a chance in handicaps against more experienced horses. In effect the novice is given a lower rating to compensate for its lack of experience. The result is that most horses manage to win at least one handicap if they have any sort of ability, and only then are they pushed up the scale and into better class races.

The UK handicappers used to operate on a similar basis until Mr Smith became the head of handicapping. Now there is no allowance at all for novices in the determinaion of their initial rating, and as a result, the whole of the NH handicap pyramid has been pushed higher.

If Irish hurdlers and chasers were allowed to run here off their Irish ratings, one unfortunate side effect would be no Irish runners in the handicaps at Cheltenham, as they would be too low in the weights to get a run!

[Author]

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