Handicap mobile starts

[ringman]

Do you think they will ever have handicap mobile starts in Australia :confused: it would be the best for harness racing as too many 1.20 things are going around and it would make the racing more interesting

I did the crime and served my time but im back to stay so i best obey:)

[Maorisidol]

How would this work?
Is the Fav outside second row or behind 2nd row on a 3rd row???
Does this happen anywhere?

[aussiebreno]

There is a bit of a balance between competitive racing and allowing the best horses to still win.
I believe the way black and white of a PBD is better than the gallops handicapping ratings system. The current rating/points system is flawed and I think most systems will always be flawed which result in some odd handicapping.
There's a lot of other avenues to go down before handicap mobile races imo.

[ringman]

10mts and 20 mts handicap they have to hold their position to the start.

They did it in Europe

[Itisi]

How would this work?
Is the Fav outside second row or behind 2nd row on a 3rd row???
Does this happen anywhere?
I done a bit of training in Europe mainly Britain and Ireland and on some tracks they drag on the outside of the inner arm a long cord with colors on it which represent the yards you have been handicapped, there were always the boys who would crib up a bit though, they also have the guess system where the driver estimates his given handicap.

[Greg Hando]

It will never happen

[Harold Parker]

@ Gloucester Park didn't they shorten the run to the first corner and take two from the front line so Has The Answers wouldn't make a mockery of their Handicapping system ?

[Lucky Camilla"s Lovechild]

Do you think they will ever have handicap mobile starts in Australia :confused: it would be the best for harness racing as too many 1.20 things are going around and it would make the racing more interesting

I did the crime and served my time but im back to stay so i best obey:)
No thank you.

[William]

Do you think they will ever have handicap mobile starts in Australia :confused: it would be the best for harness racing as too many 1.20 things are going around and it would make the racing more interesting

I did the crime and served my time but im back to stay so i best obey:)

Good idea for mine

[ringman]

Good idea for mine Something needs changing :confused: yesterday in harness racing Australia wide 36% of races had odds on favourites.

[aussiebreno]

Something needs changing :confused: yesterday in harness racing Australia wide 36% of races had odds on favourites.
I just went through and had a look.
Yarra Valley had the most.
Race1: Trotter who was already in a SS handicap race. Handicapping can be flawed as I said before.
Race2: A 3yo in a C0. Making a 3yo start staggered back in its first crack at a C0 would be a bit stiff.
Race3: With the two 3yo wins you get before taking open age penalty I think its unfair to make it harder on 3yos to win they only get 1 year to take advantage of that concession. The best horse has to win.
Race4: You read this horses figure form and its kinda like 'how is a handicapper going to be able to handicap this horse so its off a staggered start'
Race7: Got beat anyway

[Drivemecrazy]

INteresting suggestion. I am not sure about moving the arm though. they may have to place them back and hold position. I think that it is something that they could look at. I do think that in comparision to the galloping code, our restricted, country, metro scheme works to try also to keep things a little more even. But when you hit open company, thats when it gets a little trickier.

Options so far:
Changing angle of mobile arm
have them on second and thrids lines

Any other ideas?

[Daryll Jackson]

Reading suggestions that different lines should be introduced to mobile starts. This would be difficult to obtain especially suggestion that horses stay 10 and 20m behind mobile.Rugby league referees can not get 10m right with lines on the field.

There is a need to bring horses closer together as you say too many starting at short prices and lack of numbers in certain classes especially in the country venues

Looking right out of the square would making horse carry a weight on the back be a option.

This could be done with better grader horses being penalized to carry a saddle bag with weights.

Just a thought putting it out there as a option.

[Daryl New]

Is conditioned racing the answer, to get even fields of comparable horses. More age races in the Metro meetings may stop / reduce the number of class 3yo racing in the provincials thus spreading the dollars further. If a horse is head and shoulders above the rest then exclude it till it is entered against comparable opposition. Random thoughts but we need to get out of the box we are in.

[Harold Parker]

Having just returned from NY after 3 years, I'm a big fan of condition racing. Look no further than the condition book @ Yonkers. I loved the racing there.

[Harold Parker]

3-4 sometimes one more Claiming races on the card. One or two of those would be a conditioned claimer, the remainder straight claiming events. They have condition racing for horses who've not won $X the last 6 starts or whatever the criteria as well as progressive racing for horses going through the classes, MO, M1 - M2 for eg. The Open races were often handicapped i.e PBD. There are options. Let's see more Claimers for starters.

[Danno]

Claiming racing has struggled to gain of foothold in NSW, but I reckon may be worth further exploration and maybe with less parameters rather than more.

Instead of trying to run 1 or 2 races per meeting maybe look at trying an entire meeting with some thing like this,

1) 2YO c&g PBD claiming price. No restriction on claim price.Winners of 2 or more 2yo country fronts ineligible.
2) 2YO fillies PBD claiming price.No restriction on claim price.Winners of 2 or more 2yo country fronts ineligible.

3) and 4) same thing for 3yo's.

5) 4yo and up, PBD. for non winners at LTM. No restriction on claim price.

6) 3yo and up, 1609 metres. PBD claiming price. Winners of more than 2 country fronts ineligible. No restriction on claim price.

7) 3yo and up 2400 metres. PBD claiming price. Winners of more than 4 country fronts ineligble. No restriction on claim price.

8) 3yo and up 2400 metres. PBD claiming price.Open to all pacers.No restriction on claim price. (in this instance HRA handicapper divides available horses into races depending on claim price)

I'm not suggesting this is perfect, just suggesting it may assist in getting claimers accepted in the first instance and then work at refining the conditions to suit.

[clumsy]

Dan well done, new ideas are always worth trying or at least put some of these conditions to the test. I like the conditions for race 8 but would like to see the race split by sex.

[teecee]

About 12 to 18 months ago the clubs racing at Alexandra Park Auckland came up with the idea of OPEN NOMINATIONS for their programming in an effort to overcome poor field sizes and an attempt to cater for all grades of horses in the region.
I don't know if the concept is new and invented by them but their efforts appear to have worked.
Open Noms programmes are at all their meets except the feature / carnival meets.
Below is their spurl on such a meeting upcoming

2. OPEN NOMINATIONS: This raceday will be run as an open nominations meeting.The intention of these races is to have like racing like to provide the opportunity for horses to race in a competitive enviroment.As such it is preferable that horses race within their class ie.0 wins against 0 wins,1 wins against 1 wins etc.However as nominations permit conditions may be included in races for out of form horses,those with lesser winning or placed stake earnings and or fillies and mares.Please advise any preferences in regards races or race distances.Preferential barrier draws may apply.Indicative fields will be available at approximately 3.00pm Thursday February 23.Withdrawals must be made by 9.00am Friday February 24.

[Itisi]

Went to claim a horse last year at Melton if I remember rightly it was a 4000 to 12000, it don't matter but there was 56 claims in for different horses. Seems some forward thinking like Harold and Danno might be the way to go,at least give it a go.