Handicap races are some of the hardest races to fathom and it is not surprising that favourites tend to win less handicaps than any other type of race. It can be very difficult to find the winner in this type of race because they are designed to be difficult for the punter.
It is not an accident that on most Saturday afternoons in the UK there will be a big race sponsored by one of the major bookmakers and it will nearly always be a handicap. These are the type of races that the bookmakers tend to do particularly well in.
Handicaps are designed to give horses of differing ability an equal chance to win the race. This is achieved by allocating each horse a weight that is reflects its current form and ability. In the conditions of the race there will be an upper and lower weight limit. The job of deciding what weight each horse will carry is given to the official handicapper.
There are handicap races for all classes, abilities and types of horse both on the flat and over the jumps.
Types of handicap races. The only horses that are unlikely to race in handicap races are the very cream de la cream of horse racing the Group 1 grade horses. Other less talented horses will run in races appropriate to their form. This can range from races for horses 0 to 65 in class up to races for horses rated between 0 and 100 on the flat. A similar system works for National Hunt racing although the scales are different.
A second factor in handicap races can be age. For instance a race may be restricted to 2 year olds and in this case they are called nursery handicaps. These races are not run before July because basically that only just gives horse time to qualify for a handicap rating. A horse must normally run 3 times or have won in a non-handicap race before a handicapper can assess it. However, there are a few exceptions to this, a 2 years old can be rated even if it has not run 3 times providing it has finished in the first four of at least one race.
In National Hunt races a horse may run in a handicap without having qualified by running in 3 qualifiers but in the case they are automatically given top weight.
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