BHA aim to stop donkey derbies

Aug 30 2008 by Doug Moscrop, The Journal

WHAT’S wrong with British racing? There’s too much of it, for starters, and not enough cash around to provide decent prize-money. This is largely due to too much going out of the industry via bookmakers and we have long missed the boat for a Tote monopoly which would have prevented any financial restraints.

There are also too many horses in training. Well, to be more precise, an excessive number of animals who, if catered for, leads to abysmal low-graded competition.

While there will always be more bad horses than good ones around, there is an argument for drawing the line at some point and restricting races to those of very limited ability. Too much mundane action is not healthy for the sport and those who follow it. Banded racing was experimented.

It amounted to little more than point-to-point racing with no obstacles to negotiate and the rewards so scant that an owner had little to show for a victory after the various percentages had been paid and the cost of transport taken care of.

That was dropped even though, remarkably, there were still owners with moderate horses prepared to pay training bills and accept meagre prize-money in the event of a success coming their way.

Now the British Horseracing Authority want to upgrade the quality of racing by eradicating lowly-rated horses from the system and, from the start of the 2009 Flat turf season, there will be fewer opportunities for the worst performers to race.

Classified stakes races, non-handicaps for horses rated up to 45, will become 46 to 50 handicaps, although lower-rated horses will still be eligible. There will be around 80 to 90 more events for this rating band at the expense of eliminating contests for those with a rating of 45 or below.

The decision coincides with Horse Racing Ireland who have also announced changes that will result in horses rated lower than 44 on the Flat and hurdlers rated 78 or below being removed altogether from their system.

At the moment, in the region of 6,800 horses are on file in this country with a Flat rating and around 800 are rated 45 or lower.

The BHA has attempted to strike a balance by creating more races for horses rated 46 or higher and, while making it more difficult for those with lower marks to compete, have not made it impossible.