Heritage handicap.

[Stewards enquiry]

At Goodwood on Thursday 2.10 there is a Heritage handicap. Anybody tell me what a Heritage handicap is please.

[GlosRFC]

The following from the BHB should explain it:

The current handicap bands are too wide and, in general, discourage a true meritocracy. The system assists horses of lesser ability to win prize money which is not commensurate with their talent and, at the same time, disenfranchises horses of greater ability who find themselves competing with horses of lesser ability for prize money at a level which that relative lack of talent cannot justify. This system and the resultant poor risk to reward ratio not only encourages owners of better class horses to sell them abroad but raise serious questions about integrity, as highlighted in Kenyon Confronts and Panorama last year.


The RRC concluded that the traditional ‘long-band’ system of handicap races – using weight ranges of between 23lb and 32lb – was too wide and discouraged a true meritocracy, with many horses unable to win prize money commensurate with their ability.

Therefore, one of its key recommendations was that most Flat Handicap weight ranges should be narrowed to between 10lb and 15lb, while establishing substantial prize money differentials between each Class of race. This would encourage owners and trainers to seek promotion for their horses to a higher Class.

The RRC also recommended that the current division of races on the Flat into eight Classes (A to H) be simplified into five Classes (1 to 5) – where Class 1 is the highest grade and Class 5 is Regional Racing.

It was also proposed that a limited number of high profile, long-band handicaps, known as ‘Heritage Handicaps’, open to horses with a rating of 0-105 or higher and worth at least £50,000, should continue to be run in their traditional format.

A new structure incorporating these recommendations will be introduced from 1st September 2004.

[bigcumba]

When the BHB decided last year to limit flat handicap races to 14 runners maximum they decided to allow a few big races to have more - these are the heritage handicaps. Thus rule was basically designed to help the bookies - no one else, as you get 4 places each way on a handicap with 16 or more runners, but only 3 places if it's 14 runners. Thankfully the new head of the BHB has gone back on this stupid decision and scrapped the rule, but I guess the 'heritage' name will remain for now....

[GlosRFC]

In other words, this committee recommended that all previous handicaps be changed to the new formats but certain handicaps were deemed to be of such a high profile that they were best left alone, such as The Lincoln or the Rosebowl.

[Stewards enquiry]

Thanks for the replies.