Horse ratings

Hamo

I've only just began to take an interest in the ponies adn was wondering can anyone explain to me how I read teh OR ratings or teh BHA ratings, whats the significance

Thanks

Kauto

Most horses are given a handicap mark after their first three runs on the flat, hurdles and chases. All horses in a handicap are meant to finish in a line, which happens all the time ! You justy have to make up ure own mind about what you think is well handicapped and whats not.
For example i had a horse i had been waiting to run in a handicapp for a few weeks called few are chosen. I thought the horse was a penalty kick off 60. Ran in Galway a couple of weeks ago and won by 10 lengths in a 1 mile handicap. Put up to 80 now. You just have to keep an eye on the horses that are not too busy in races and keep them in mind for the next day.

mike65

The handicap is raised or lowered in pounds (of weight!), the handicap system is easy enough to manipulate/work round. For example take care not to win a race to well, if the horse bolts home streaking away from the field then the hanicappr will assess the win as a very strong one and put the weight up by say 8 lbs, if the horse is well managed to a narrow lead to win then the rise might be only 5. The trainer may well seek to offset the rise by using an apprientice jockey who can "claim" a certain number of pounds, at the next race or the horse will run again before the new rating is applied (the new ratings are enforced on a Tueaday).

Hamo

So the higher the horse is rated the more weight he carries as a result of his previous races?

Can a horse be rated in a maiden or just handicaps?

thanks again

mike65

A maiden will see rated and unrated horses mixed together, but all the horses are running without thier handicap rating applying. So its all about talent.

finbarrk

Also bear in mind that Flat and N.H. ratings are different. 120 would be good for the flat whereas 160 would be good over jumps.
A horse would also have a different handicap mark for hurdles and chases.

Whyno

finbarrk wrote: »

Also bear in mind that Flat and N.H. ratings are different. 120 would be good for the flat whereas 160 would be good over jumps.A horse would also have a different handicap mark for hurdles and chases.

These would be classified as Grade one ratings.

wb

Took this from Let's Bet which sums it up:

Handicap Races
Arguably the most confusing concept to the novice punter. To understand what a handicap race is, you must first understand the ‘Official Rating’:


After a horse has ran a number of times, it is given an official rating (often referred to as the OR). This is simply a numerical value of how good the horse is. In theory, the higher the official rating, the better the horse. Every time the horse runs (no matter what type of race it is) its performance is assessed and the official rating may go up or down depending on how good or bad they ran.


In handicap races, the theory is that every horse should have an equal chance at winning. To make sure this is the case, the better horses will carry more physical weight (usually lead) to ensure that the lesser horses have a chance at winning. The amount of physical weight a horse carries is determined by his official rating. The horse with the highest official rating is considered the best horse; therefore he will carry the most weight (often referred to as the topweight horse), while the horse with the lowest official rating will carry the least amount of physical weight during the race.

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Basically, think of cycling home with your mates from school as a kid. They guy with the best bike would usually win. So to give you all an equal chance, you dump a load of extra schoolbook in his bag :pac:

You will know by the race title if it's a handicap or not. So for example, the 3.45 at Beverly is a handicap, while the 3.15 is not:


3:15 Hull Daily Mail Maiden Auction Stakes Cl5 5f Betting
3:45 WBX.COM Handicap Cl4 2m35y

smartaform

120 on the FLAT!!! You'd be in Group 1 paradise

I find the handicap system to be quite flawed in the UK and Ireland - maybe this is for another debate but let's look past that.
All tracks are different - too different to get a good guide on a whole group of horses - ACCURATELY . With half the tracks having uphill finishes, the other having downhill, some running over hills...:rolleyes:
The best way i think form wise is to disregard the whole RATING from some guy who hasn't seen a horse and analyse previous runs, find out where they go best, what traits they have etc... (maybe a calling for some form buff out there?)

mike65

I agree, some fella on another site tried a system of betting the top rated in every race. As with every system it threw up some winners but was a quite heavy money looser overall.

finbarrk

Whyno wrote: »

These would be classified as Grade one ratings.

Yeah, thats what I said, they would be good.