I have no strong opinions on the make up of the races and will be happy to go along with whatever is decided.

i am the same Davy as long as the league continues thats all the matters
we got good staff who will decide on this
i meant on the forums not about this forum btw

I personally think it would be a mistake to drop the Prix De Diane, it is the premier race of the season for 10 furlong 3yo fillies. Entries were low this year, probably because of the soft ground more than anything.

3yo's had a good year this season, but who knows, next season the older horses may take over again.

Here is my radical thinking on week 9

I would cut 7 but add 1 and change a few races

These would be the ones cut.

6 Connolly Red Mills Lowther Stakes York 140000 2YO Fillies Group 2
9 Darley Yorkshire Oaks York 425000 3+Fillies Group 1
13 Gray Handicap Windsor 30000 3+ Open 0-85
20 Marc Listed Stakes Goodwood 40000 3+ Open Listed
22 Betfred City Of York Stakes York 55000 2YO Open Listed 7
28 Sky Bet Convival Maiden Stakes Chepstow 30000 2YO Open Maiden 8.5
37 Gallop Club Iffezheim Baden Baden 20000 3+ Open 0-90 8

Now i would add the irish st leger to this week instead of clashing with the other 2 1m6 group races next week or i would cull one in week 10.

With the Lowther going i would change the gimcrack to a open race instead of the colts only race now.

I would also change the Great Voltigeur from a group 2 to a group 1 and because the yorshire oaks goes i would turn the Voltigeur from a colts only race to a open 3yo race. The 3yo colts never take on the 3yo fillies and it would be a championship race to see whos better, the colts or the fillies .

I would also turn the acomb into a open race for colts and fillies because of getting shot of the city of york.

I like the idea of dropping the City of York and making the Acomb open, which it is in real life.

Not sure about dropping the Lowther or Yorkshire Oaks. I'd rather lose, race 39, the Great Voltiguer and Kikuka-sho.

Leon had the idea in week 13 of dropping the Crown Oaks and allowing fillies into Victorian Derby (again allowed in real life). This could be an end of season battle for the 3yo colts and fillies.

Some of these group races got to go , u cant just expect the lower rated h'caps to go . It has to be a few of each.

Here you go then, drop these:

WEEK 9:
9 20 March Listed Stakes Goodwood 40000 3+ Open Listed 14 0 999 Turf
9 22 Betfred City Of York Stakes York 55000 2YO Open Listed 7 0 999 Turf
9 28 Sky Bet Convival Maiden Stakes Chepstow 30000 2YO Open Maiden 8.5 0 999 Turf
9 34 War And Fire Stayers Handicap Kempton Park 50000 3+ Open 0-85 21 0 85 Dirt
9 39 Holty Stakes Baden Baden 20000 2YO Open 0-70 10 0 70 Turf
9 42 Kikuka-sho Kyot 1820000 3YO Open Group 1 15 80 999 Turf

All races with only 7 runners this season. All races with close alternatives.

The last 7 winners of the Yorkshire Oaks:

2016 Seventh Heaven
2017 Enable
2018 Sea of Class
2019 Enable
2020 Love
2021 Snowfall
2022 Alpinista

I really don' t think this race should go

U making my point in that they should run against the colts

If we going to cut races by runners then the group races 2-3-6-26-42 should go with 4-4 -7-5-5 runners Week 9 is going to be every race h'cap

The Acomb would have the extra runners from the dropped City of York. You could merge the Lowther and the Gimcrack for 6f 2yo's "The LowtherCrack".

So that would mean dropping:

9 6 Connolly Red Mills Lowther Stakes York 140000 2YO Fillies Group 2 6 0 999 Turf
9 20 March Listed Stakes Goodwood 40000 3+ Open Listed 14 0 999 Turf
9 22 Betfred City Of York Stakes York 55000 2YO Open Listed 7 0 999 Turf
9 28 Sky Bet Convival Maiden Stakes Chepstow 30000 2YO Open Maiden 8.5 0 999 Turf
9 34 War And Fire Stayers Handicap Kempton Park 50000 3+ Open 0-85 21 0 85 Dirt
9 42 Kikuka-sho Kyot 1820000 3YO Open Group 1 15 80 999 Turf

I'm with this. the first thing to do is go through and merge all races that can be merged. Going off the ones which had small fields previously. It's easy enough to check. I don't mind getting involved in getting the figures. The 3yo's is definitely one to consider, I'm sure there were quite a few still going as 3yo only races after ascot, these could be merged as open age races with others already on the schedule. The 2yo schedule late on is very bizarre. It would be easy to lose quite a few of these by merging, same as the 3yo races. There's 3 group1s in one week for 2yos I think. An another week with 3 group1 8f races.

We need to be careful with trying to replicate real racing in the schedule. There's too many things that become tough when you do that. It should really be based around the top championship races, then you can play with any other group 1s an group2s to fit the rest. Handicaps too, but they need just as much work as the top end races really, whether it be re-grading or adding an removing. Regrading most would probably be the better option

I think the main thing here is, if we are cutting the races down, an I agree we should, the first thing we have to do is draw bias turned off on all races. We will be pushing all the top horses into the same races, which I like, but there's no point if it's a turning track an some are going 15 wide. People will quickly go off entering. It's the same for handicaps, if we are regrading so we push more horses together in the same races, we will get the same issues.

I think we go through an merge all we can, then go through an regrade any we can, then remove any after that, with maybe little tweeks here an there to finish off each week. I have it all saved in a spreadsheet, so I can easily filter looking for duplicates at some point this week an put them in, then we can have a consensus on which ones to merge?

This should likely be merged with the Prix Du Jockey Club, they both had very low numbers this season

Should we maybe start putting each week in as a seperate thread and we can all comment only on that week, to merge or lose each weeks races as we all see fit. It would keep everything neat an tidy, plus it would allow anyone who wanted to comment to comment. Just throwing random weeks about in this thread means things will likely be lost in all the messages

I think 3 people should do this behind close doors and when each week has been agreed then for it to be put on this thread so everyone can see and perhaps just leave a comment because otherwise it gets very messy with everyone having different ideas what should go.

Sounds like a good idea to me, i don't mind setting it up. What harm can it do, we all know that 1, 2 or 3 people will ultimately decide the schedule, but at least it gives trainers the chance to offer their opinions, which the organisers can see and then make their own decisions. We trying to ease the burden on the organisers by giving them opinions and ideas to keep the league sustainable.