I made no changes to weeks 1, 2 and 6.

WEEK 3 - Dropped race 28 10pts to open a 20pt gap on race 32. Race 35 changed to 0-80 and re-named the 'SO6 Cup'. Dropped race 30 10pts to open gap from race 4.

WEEK 4 - Raised race 19 by 10pts to have a more even spread of 3yo+ sprints. Race 37 changed from G1 to 0-70, renamed The Kiss of Stu 2yo Sprint. Dropped race 23 by 5pts to open the gap from race 6

WEEK 5 - Dropped race 4 by 15pts to open the gap from race 31. Lifted race 28 by 10pts to even out 2yo hcp spread. Lifted race 13 by 5pts to even hcp spread. Changed race 17 to a 10f custom race. Too much crowding with ratings between 13f to 15f 3yo+ races. Re-named Commentators Gold Cup 10f 3yo+, 0-75. Race 35 is now a G1 3yo open (instead of colts only). Race 36 is now a mile 3yo 0-90, re-named the Gray Clutterbuck Mile Cup.

WEEK 7 - Dropped race 9 by 10pts to open gap from race 30. Dropped race 16 by 15pts to open gap from race 32.

WEEK 8 - Changed race 33 to colts only as race 38 is fillies and mares with same rating and a half furlong difference. Dropped race 20 by 20pts to open the spread. Raised race 23 by 20pts to 0-100 as race 36 is a copy of race 23. Raised race 1 by 10pts. Raised race 30 by 5pts to get a more even spread.

Week 9 - Raised race 20 by 10pts to open gap from race 30 to get an even spread. Dropped race 10 by 10pts to get a better spread. Dropped race 7 by 10pts. Dropped race 23 by 10pts to get a more even spread.

WEEK 10 - Dropped race 18 by 10pts to even spread. Dropped race 27 by 30pts to even spread. Dropped race 38 by 10pts to even spread. Raised race 14 by 10pts and raised race 16 by 10pts to open race spread.

WEEK 11 - Raised race 37 by 20pts to even the spread. Raised race 34 by 20pts to even spread. Dropped race 30 by 15pts and dropped race 22 by 25pts to even to even out the ratings.

WEEK 12 - Dropped race 29 by 10pts and dropped race 19 by 15pts to even out the spread. Dropped race 20 by 15pts. Dropped race 9 by 5pts. Raised race 28 to Listed to balance out the ratings spread. Re-named it the 'SO7 Listed'. Dropped race 18 by 20pts to even spread.

WEEK 13 - Lifted race 30 to Listed to even the ratings spread - I researched this South African race but it appears to have no rating although it is a prestigious race on their calendar - we had it at 0-110 and we already have a sprint rated at 0-100 and a few more sprints that are lower rated and three G1 sprints. Lifting it to Listed will give a race to the sprinters that are caught between G1 and handicap races. Lowered race 15 by 35pts to 0-75 to balance out the rating spread.

In week 4 I changed five of the Chester races -races 4 to 8- to Goodwood as Chester is a very tight track not conducive to big fields which we get early in the season. I re-named the First Nursery at Chester to First Nursery at Goodwood but left all the other race names the same.
In week 12 I replaced Kempton Park with Flemington and re-named race 17 to the 'PJR Quality'. Race 18 to 'UcantbeSirius Cup' (a light hearted nod to John McEnroe and Sirius and the occasional uproar his ratings create). Race 19 to the 'Steve Rann Sprint' and race 20 to the 'Murray Mile'
All races that I re-named I also lifted the stakes money so the handicap trainers have a bit of 'gold coin' to aim at.

I did drop approx. 3 Australian G1s that were added last season to help add some riches to handicap trainers. The loss of these 3 G1 races has been offset with the opening up of max rated G1 races to open class from last season. I didn't change any min rated races.

My main aim at rating changes is to give mid to lower rated trainers more appropriate races to enter their horses. Also to fix up race or near race clashes. For quite a few races that I found there was only a 10 point difference in rating which were over the same or a furlong difference in race distance. When this occurred I would look to what was missing - a lot of times it was to drop the rating to fill a hole but on more than a few occasions the rating was lifted to do the same. Sometimes the rating drop was quite large but needed.

How I did it was to quarter up the race distances. 5 to 6f - 7, 8, 9f - 10, 11f - 12+f which I'd pair up 12 & 13f, 14 & 15f etc. or a mix but nothing greater than a furlong or what ever was needed for that week - it may have been 13 to 14f and 15 to 16f.

This way it made it clearer to spot the clashes in race distance v race rating.

All in all I believe the changes that I have made give a wider spread of races v ratings which will opened up more race choices and more horses being entered and also entered into appropriate races where a more realistic winning chance is had and hopefully more competitive racing and less horses finishing tailed off or far from the placings. It may even help Sirius with his handicapping.

Some really good work done here by Doug, Gray and Leon. Can't imagine how much time must have been put in but it looks like it will have been worth it.

These changes will make for a much better all round experience for everyone. The evening out of the handicap spreads will mean less horses being forced to run out of the handicap which should in theory make Sirius's job as handicapper slightly easier and also reduce the occasional anomaly of horses creeping in below their correct level and totally skewing the handicap. Coupled with the expansion of double entries and the removal of the G1 debut rule this makes the prospect of the new season quite exciting.

Next job is to try and have a last minute recruitment drive for new trainers. Any chance of some all star races again Gray like last season. They were pretty exciting from memory.

Great work!
It will be excellent to have a better spread of handicapped races.
I'm looking forward to winning them all....umm.... i mean taking part in them.

I think you may be racing in the 0-110 to G1 group than the handicaps below