Ratings followed by Turf Clubs

The system of classifying the horses according to ratings is followed by all the turf clubs in our country.Hyderabad follows a category system where the ratings upto 25 is Cat IV( now removed), upto 50 is Cat III,upto 75 is Cat II and so on.

The other turf clubs follow ratings upto 25( Cl V), 20-45( Cl IV),40-65( Class III),60-85(Class II) and above 80 ( Class I).

It is my belief that this very system starts the problem of in & out racing.A horse rated in between 20 to 25 can run in both Class V & Class IV and similarly a horse rated between 40 to 45 can run in both Class IV & Class III and so on.

The hanky panky starts here.

The trainers switch shoes , give an easy run and wait for the rating to drop.The logic behind rating changes is a mystery.

Lets take some examples of the races of 16.6.10 at Mysore.In race 1 H NO 2,Tropical flyer finished last on 23.12.2009 with a rating of 16 but the rating remained the same for its next run on 6.1.2010.What is the Logic?H NO 3 Stellar Star finished 7th at a distance of 17.2 lenghts from the winner on 6.1.12010 but the rating remained same for its next run on 4.2.2010.World is Too Much continues at the same rating of 51 since 20.2.2010

Stampede is another example which did well at a rating of 48 and was a disaster at the same rating on 16.6.2010.The run of this horse till it achieves a rating of 44 or 45 will be bad and will suddenly sprout wings at the desired rating and win concincingly.

Spark of Zeal had a rating of 17 on 17.12.2009 finished 19.5 lengths behind the winner and continued with the same rating on 6.1.2010 and again finished 19.2 lengths behind the winner but maintained the same rating for its next run on 4.2.2010.

The Rolls had a rating of 14 on 9.1.2010 and finished 19.3 lenghts behind the winner but had the same rating in its next run on 19.2.2010.

Showers of luck had a rating of 26 on 13.2.2010 and continued with the same rating on 20.2.2010 and won.Inspite of the win was given the same rating for its next run on 1.4.2010 when it finished 2nd.

NEARCO MASTER had a rating of 32 on 14.11.2009 finished 21 lenghts behind and raced with the same rating on 19.12.09 finished 12.5 lenghts behind and again ran with the same rating on 9.1.2010 again finished 43.8 lenghts behind and the rating remained the same for its next run on 22.5.10 when it finished 36.6 lenghts behind.The rating still remained at 32 for its next run on 6.6.10 when it finished 26.8 lenghts behind.The joke is it again is running at the same rating on20.6.10.

We will suddenly witness a drop in rating and then will find the horse doing well.

It is high time that some scientific system is followed and the overlapping of rating for different classes is removed.The class ratings should be mutually exclusive.for eg for horses rated upto 22 should be in class v and for rating from 23 to 49 can be class IV, 50 to 72 can be class III, 73 to 95 be class II and the horses rated above 96 be class I.

Unless this is done the trainers will take advantage of common ratings and we will have In & Out ratings. For example, SUN DEVICE which was rated 40 on 16.6.2010 can be tried both over ClIV & Cl III in its next outing and the horse may be able to score but after winning a race the horse will again start having easy runs till the horse achieves the desired rating.CHIEF DE MISSION ran insignificant races till the rating dropped to less than 65 and suddenly runs well.

Therefore the horses will not run as per merit till the system of ratings are changed and a transparent system of increase/decrease in ratings are followed, else the handicapper will have full liberty to favour some Owner/Trainer and penalise the others.

Blaming only the trainers / owners for In & Out running is not right.The system has to become transparent and change

Swamy