| Being a horse Racing Handicapper must be a | | | | and 10lb. In some races in National Hunt Novice and flat |
| thankless task. They are given the impossible job of | | | | races the penalty can be accumulative so a horse |
| assessing a horses ability and then allotting it a weight | | | | having won its last two races will carry a bigger |
| that should in theory make the whole field even. I | | | | penalty that one that has only won its last race. |
| suppose a handicappers idea of heaven is seeing a | | | | The weight penalty in handicaps is often set based on |
| race he has assessed end with all the horses spread | | | | the distance of the race a horse won. In sprint races |
| across the track and passing the winning post | | | | the penalty tends to be higher than in longer distance |
| together. | | | | races. Statistics seem to show that horses with |
| But lets face it, this is not ever going to happen. | | | | penalties do perform better in the shorter races. |
| Horses are not machines and very few of them are | | | | If you are assessing a horses chance of being |
| that consistent. Another problem facing the | | | | successful despite its penalty you need to consider if it |
| handicapper is that when some horses begin to run | | | | has the scope to improve enough to defy it. Consider |
| into form or show improvement they do it at a faster | | | | how easily the horse did win its last race. Was it |
| rate than others. | | | | eased up near the end or was it a neck and neck |
| Obviously there can be a time lapse between a horse | | | | scramble to the line. What was the quality of the |
| running its race and the handicapper being able to | | | | opposition it actually beat? |
| assess the performance and take it into consideration. | | | | A winner, especially a two year old is likely to be able |
| If a horse has shown considerable improvement the | | | | to defy a 3lb or even a 5lb hike in the weights. |
| trainer may be keen to get it out again quickly before | | | | However 7lbs or more is going to require a |
| the handicapper has time to raise it in the weights. This | | | | considerable degree of improvement and would be |
| is one of the reasons that weight penalties are applied. | | | | beyond many race horses. |
| The size of the penalties is usually given in the race | | | | An important fact to remember when it comes to |
| conditions and only applies to horses that have won | | | | weights is that giving a good horse extra weight may |
| their last race. | | | | make it run slower but taking weight off a bad horse |
| The size of the weight penalty can in flat racing be | | | | will not make it run any faster. |
| between 3lb and 10lb and in National Hunt between 4lb | | | | |