Thank you Steve.

In NH I always intentionally have some handicappers ( knowing that they are way below my best ) and over the seasons have enjoyed having these runners. I think the addition of multiple entries races means there are even more opportunities for the casual player as all the good horses will then be in the grade 1's opening more races for other trainers

I manage to enter every horse every week but that is probably because I am a jack of all trades middle of the tier no hoper who tilts at windmills.

When I suggested the 2 runner rule a couple of seasons ago I was shot down pretty quickly by most … and now it is regarded as a success. Every race should be double entry with published max fields. 5 extra characters needed in race title MAX28 … and the lowest rated eliminated regardless of who trains it not lowest after everyone has one in. Can you imagine the scenario in real life "Hello Mr Magnier I am sorry but your 140 rated £70,000,000 dollar colt can't run in the Derby because Albert Scratchpot the Somerset permit holder has a three year old cart horse he wants to run". Lets make it as real as possible chaps. People would soon get fed up of being scratched every week and enter the more realistic races. This of course benefits everyone. I'd rather run 2 in a race I can win than have to stick one in a G1 … but on the other hand I am not going to not enter them just because it suits others.

The other alternative of course is to limit the number of runners you can have per week to 20 or something then the elites wouldn't feel as though they were getting a rough deal.

Personally I would happily swap stables with anyone in the top 6 … less runners and more chances of a win sounds like a better deal to me.

number of runners is a super easy thing to change. In fact number of runners can be changed in the admin section of the site and thus can be done at any time

I don't feel hard done by, I have 10 on the flat and 18 over jumps. I don't see the point of running a horse in a wrong race just to have runners. I don't care if I have half amount of runs to everyon e else, my horses only ever run in the right races for them. I don't like opening up every race because most courses can't take a big field and it just makes the races a lottery.

My original post was not complaint far from it i was just curious I have absolutely no complaints
at all.

I dont think many have done more than me over the years to help or encourage new players
to broaden the league (Something for everyone mentality)

im no elitist

Be nice if you had read my second post where I say exactly that before biting my head off. Settle down folks, it was just a neutral statement that entry option are greater the worse your horses are.......

Of course there is more entry options for a lower (worse) horse, but will it win in anything, highly unlikely, its likely to pick up 0-70, 80 (remember, there is more mid to lower trainers than top trainers, much greater competition at the bottom than the top) where as a top horse will have maybe up to 4 races it has a chance of winning each week (G1,2,3, Listed)

Should there be a greater number of races to win for the smaller group of top trainers ? this is why the word "Elitist" gets banded about so much.

The top trainers also get to plunder 0-90's quite often too, with some favorable handicap marks, do you think your "Black Mamba" winner lto should be rated 85 ? it wins a 0-80 and is in a 0-90 this week, which it will prob win, off close to top weight, I could go on, although this is not your fault as you do not decide the handicap marks, but gives you an idea of how many options there is for the top.

You want to be the handicapper? Enough already with your complaining about my contribution. It's getting very tiresome.

Ok everyone take a deep breath it is only week 2. I was not complaining merely stating fact and I am reasonably sure Paul was not complaining either. The only reason I said I think there should be more graded and listed than handicaps is that the lower and mid tier can access both and the upper tier only the former. Everyone regardless of horse ability wants to see as many horses run each week as possible, so instead of the 16 vs 20 balance this week i’d Look for more 18/18 or 20/16. And there have been times that lower too mid tier trainers have had graded success. But honestly I do not really care either way and as I said in my second post before the elitist comments began, I get that the top tier have much higher prospect win percentage.

As for black mamba, she really is not very good, 110 handicap is about as high as I expect her to go so sirus is pretty much on point with her so far, I may have expected a little higher than 85 after the win but it is nice to see handicapping of the horse and not the trainer as it would seem you’d rather.

And with that I am off the board for a bit, cannot say a thing around here without upsetting someone, so i’ll just say nothing at all.

At first I was in the camp where every trainer needs have at least 1 horse before another trainer gets his 2nd entry. But your logic is sound and I now have changed my mind.

I totally support this idea. We could slowly add more double entries next season and if it goes well, then a full blown 2nd entry for every race if everyone or the majority agrees.

A runner limit of 20 or some other number is another good suggestion. A limit of runners per week seems interesting.

I am in agreeance with this as well - only thing I'd add - instead of having a blanket set limit of say 20 - let's agree upon a max limit per race track (I am only talking about the flat). I feel the AW tracks shouldn't have big fields and maybe to not have 2 entries per trainer on those tracks.

I am sorry but i just cannot resist saying this.
I think the solution to all of this is to have more ppl volunteer to help with the league.
More ppl, less load on the current team, more chance of more races and bigger stables if necessary.
I have no idea how Gray and Sirius are able to devote the amount of time they do, as well as all the others involved.
Spread the load thin and anything is possible.
/rant off

We all agree - it's part of not just attracting players to the league - but keeping them - that's the hard part.

I agree with this.

If I have two entries in the guineas, why should my second horse rated at say 111 have to be scratched from the guineas to let a horse rated at 60 run.

As well as the guineas races over 8f there are a 0-80 h'cap and a 0-100 h'cap over 8f this week. One of my horses is just eligible for the 0-100 h'cap but if I enter him in the handicap race, I get criticism for plundering the lower level races because it is assumed all my horses are top class since I am seen as an elite trainer.

I don't agree with my next statement but I could say something like, "Why are low level horses being allowed to run in top level races just to get in the way of the better horses".

It is also possible to say, "Every trainer deserves the chance to see their horse compete at the top level to see how their horses have improved since last season".


One other thing that has been mentioned is limiting the number of horses that can be entered into races each week. I am totally against this. In an ideal world, I like to see all my horses running each week. In the NH this week I have some chasers going over hurdles and some hurdlers going over fences. Sometimes my top hurdler may be a mediocre chaser but would be competetive in some handicap races. I don't see anything wrong in running horses this way just to give them a race.