Weight-for-age races

[mathare]

I'm still working my way through one of David Duncan's books and he keeps talking about weight-for-age races. Am I right in assuming that these are races where the weight a horse is set to carry depends on its age?

How can I tell which races fall into such a category from the racecard? Maidens, novices, handicaps etc are all easy to tell from the name of the race but I don't recall seeing any race with weight-for-age in the title. What should I be looking for?

[TheOldhamWhisper]

Not 100% certain, but I believe these would be 'Classified' races.

[mathare]

Ahhh, interesting. I'll keep my eye out of that then. Cheers Oldham.

[borealis]

Weight-f-a is an official scale of weights designed to give horses of different ages, racing against each other, equal opportunity, by giving them varying weights.

On the Flat, it applies to 2-5 year olds (older horses considered equal) and National Hunt to 3-5 y.o. (older horses considered equal).
The scale changes thoughout the season to allow for horses maturing and, also, varies according to distances raced over.

E.G. In March (Flat) at 5f,a 4 y.o. would be expected to give a 3 y.o. 14 to 13lb, but by October this would have fallen to 1lb. Similarly, weight changes apply to National Hunt racing.

However, courses can frame the conditions of races differently to the official weight for age scale. It is,therefore, advisable to check the conditions of weight for age races in the Racing Post and note whether conditions would seem to favour one age rather than another. Or if the race agrees strictly with the official scale.

Hope this is helpful.