How Does Handicap Work In Horse Racing?

Horse racing is one of those subjects that seems to be absolutely crammed with baffling terminology. If you follow horse racing only casually, or you’re just starting to get into sports betting, you’ve probably looked at least once at the information at the top of a racecard and thought that you haven’t got a clue what any of it means.

A ‘handicap’ horse race is one where all the horses have been levelled up by the addition of extra weight, with the aim of equalising their ability. It might sound like it should be a rarity, given that the point of a race is normally for the best runner to win, but some of the biggest horse racing events in the world are handicaps - the Grand National, for example, and the Melbourne Cup in Australia.

If you’re already au fait with all the finer points of horse racing, you probably aren’t in need of this article - but if you want to understand what handicap is, how it works, and why it exists, read on!

Types Of Horse Racing

There are a lot of horse races across the world each year, with a wide array of categories and subcategories. The two basic types of race are jumps and flat, which are, just as they sound, either races including jumps, or races on flat ground.

Within each major type of race, there are various subcategories of race, with varying rules and restrictions.

Group Races

Group races are some of the best known flat races in horse racing, featuring the highest performing horses. These are subdivided into Groups 1, 2 and 3, with Group 1 being the highest level.

Group races are usually restricted by age and/or gender of the horse - e.g. a group race might be exclusively for three year old fillies.

Group 1 races feature the very highest quality horses, and are considered highlights of the racing year. Some of the very most famous Group 1 races are the Classics - five races with centuries of history, all of which are contested only by three year old horses.

• 2,000 Guineas - a one mile race for colts at Newmarket, first run in 1809

• 1,000 Guineas - a one mile race for fillies at Newmarket, first run in 1814, introduced as the equivalent for fillies of the 2,000 Guineas

• Oaks - a one mile four furlong race for fillies at Epsom, first run in 1779

• Derby - a one mile four furlong race for colts and fillies at Epsom, first run in 1780

• St Leger - a one mile four furlong race for colts and fillies at Doncaster, first run in 1776, making it the oldest of the Classic races

Groups 2 and 3 are still considered very important races, but aren’t of quite such high quality as Group 1 races.

Listed races, meanwhile, are another step down from group races, but otherwise follow the same format.

Graded Races

Graded races are jump races, which follow the same format as group races. Grade 1 races are the highest level, and include such note-worthy events as the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Champion Hurdle. As with group races, grades 2 and 3 are the next levels down from grade 1, though still of high importance, and listed races of slightly lower quality again.

Types Of Jump Race

Jump horses tend to be older than flat racing horses, competing from a minimum age of three, with many starting later than that. Jump races come in five main formats:

• National Hunt flat races. Counterintuitively, these don’t actually involve any obstacles to be jumped over. These races are for horses bred for jump racing, however, and are intended to build their experience before moving on to hurdles or fences.

• Novice hurdling. These races are for horses who have yet to win a hurdles race. Horses are eligible to compete until the end of the season in which they win their first hurdles race.

• Hurdling. One of the few straightforwardly named races, these are open races for horses to compete against each other over a course featuring hurdles.

• Novice chasing. As with novice hurdling, these races are for horses who haven’t yet won a fences race. Again, they can compete in these races until the end of the season in which they win their first race over fences.

• Chasing. Another open race, over fences this time.

Selling Races

As you probably gathered from the name, selling races are those designed to sell some or all of the horses competing. These races tend to feature inexperienced horses, whose owners hope their horse will perform well and be snapped up by someone looking for the next big thing. Usually, the winner of a race will immediately be put up for auction afterwards - although sometimes the original owner may themselves put in a bid for their horse.

Handicap Races

Finally, we come to handicap races. These can be jumps or flats, but in either case the horses will receive a handicap rating and have weight added to their saddles, the aim being to level out the playing field before the race begins.

The majority of horses, except those racing at the very highest level, will compete in handicap races. Most handicap races are run by somewhat older and less valuable horses, however this isn’t universally the case - some of the great races are handicaps, including the Grand National, as well as quite a number of other races internationally.

How Does Handicap Work?

Horses are assessed to determine their ability level, which is based on their performance in previous races. Horses must generally compete in at least three races to be given a handicap rating, and thus to be allowed to enter handicap races.

Based on their performance figures, horses are given a handicap rating, which may be adjusted after every race, depending on their performance.

Each horse competing in a handicap race will carry an additional specified weight, known as the impost. The aim is to put all horses on an equal footing (or should we say hoofing?) to ensure a competitive race, even with significant discrepancies between the abilities of the horses involved.

Why Have Handicap Races?

The very concept of a handicap race is likely to strike someone unfamiliar with horse racing as very odd. What is the point of a race, after all, but to establish which is the fastest competitor?

Horse racing, however, is a sport that has been intrinsically linked to betting for almost as long as it’s existed - which is a very long time indeed. And betting becomes much more interesting - and profitable - when more of the runners have a real chance of winning a race.

A competitive race is also far more enjoyable to watch, so handicap races have the advantage of appealing both to audiences and to punters. Plus, the more races that can be held, the better for the horse racing industry as a whole.

The History Of Handicapping

Compared to the millennia of history of horse racing, handicapping is quite a new development - though it still goes back as far as the 19th century, and is credited to Admiral Henry John Rous.

The Admiral had an illustrious career in the Navy, which he joined at 13, serving in the Napoleonic Wars, before going home to become MP for Westminster. Horse racing isn’t the only sport he had an instrumental role in developing; in 1827, he organised Sydney’s very first Regatta while visiting Australia.

Having returned from his seafaring adventures, he was made a steward of the Jockey Club in 1838, and in that role devised the weight-for-age scale still used for the highest levels of horse racing today. Although modern handicap races don’t use the weight-for-age scale, instead basing a horse’s handicap on performance, it was Admiral Rous who paved the way for modern handicap racing.

Handicap Ratings

The ratings system differs slightly between races run on the flat and jump races. On the flat, handicap ratings are between 0 and 140, while those in the National Hunt are rated between 0 and 170. The higher the horse’s rating, the better its ability has been judged to be, and therefore the more weight it has to carry to balance out its performance.

A horse’s rating determines exactly the amount of extra weight it must carry - one pound of weight for every point difference. So, for example, a horse with a rating of 90 must carry 5lb more than a horse with a rating of 85.

A horse’s rating also determines the races it can participate in. Horses of the very highest ability will not be able to compete in handicap races, but must compete against the best racers in graded or group races. Handicap races, meanwhile, will have a specified range of handicap ratings, and only horses within that range will be eligible to take part.

Every race will have a class, which indicates the ratings bands for its competitors as follows:

Flat races

Class 1 - includes the Classic races, and all Group races. For horses with an Official Rating (often shortened to OR) of 96+

Class 2 - Official Ratings ranges of 86-100, 91-105, 96-110

Class 3 - Official Ratings ranges of 76-90 and 81-95

Class 4 - Official Ratings ranges of 66-80 and 71-85

Class 5 - Official Ratings ranges of 56-70 and 61-75

Class 6 - Official Ratings ranges of 46-60 and 51-65

Class 7 - Official Ratings range of 0-45

Jump races

Class 1 - includes Grade 1, 2, 3 and Listed races

Class 2 - Official Ratings range of 0 - 140+

Class 3 - Official Ratings range of 0 - 135

Class 4 - Official Ratings range of 0 - 115

Class 5 - Official Ratings range of 0 - 95

Class 6 - National Hunt flat races and Hunter’s Steeplechases

How Are Handicaps Decided?

The British Horseracing Authority employs handicappers to assess the performance of horses in all races, and gives them a Performance Figure accordingly.

Having produced the performance figures for a race, the BHA will then decide upon a horse’s initial rating, if the horse has just completed their third qualifying run, or whether an adjustment should be made to a horse’s existing rating.

If a trainer believes that a horse’s rating is unfair, they can speak to the handicapper who assigned it to find out the reasoning behind the rating. If they’re unable to resolve the dispute via discussion, though, the BHA has an appeals process for trainers to follow. Trainers would also be able to follow this process if the BHA has refused to give a horse a rating altogether (which usually happens if they feel there isn’t enough information to rate the horse fairly).

Handicap Races For Bettors

Handicapping isn’t a perfect process. Although the aim is to produce an equal field, it’s never the case that a race finishes in a dead heat between all competitors.

A handicap rating can never account for the variability of a horse’s performance, and the handicapper is also unlikely to judge every horse to perfection. For this reason, many bettors see opportunities to exploit what they consider to be flawed handicap ratings. A bettor may feel that a horse’s odds are overlong, and that it is more likely to win than its rating might imply.

Some bettors will even compile their own private handicap ratings for horses, allowing them to make informed decisions about their betting.

For most people, this is far more work than they’re willing to put in, when all they want is to have a bit of a flutter on a race. One alternative, that makes matters of performance and handicap completely irrelevant, is to have a go at Matched Betting. A matched bettor will always come out of a race with a guaranteed profit, no matter the outcome, and has no need to worry in the slightest about the complexities and consequences of handicapping.

Summary

If you’re still not convinced that it makes any sense for the horse racing industry to devote enormous sums of money and countless hours of work to a system designed to prevent the best horse from winning a race - well, you’ve probably got a fair point.

But the fact remains that they do, and it certainly produces exciting races and more worthwhile betting opportunities, both for bookies and for punters. Hopefully, you’re now better informed than you were about handicapping in horse racing - though of course, if you stick to Matched Betting, you probably won’t need to be.