The handicap issue for these horses needs to be dealt with. One of mine just happened to win a maiden at 29f, unexpected but you have to get a mark for them somewhere in week one or you miss the week 2 handicap, now assuming he does not win another race, quite possible since there are so few available to him, will not qualify for the National as the TOM thinks it knows his best distance better than I do...............

This has been a problem for many seasons now. It has happened to me before, about 3 seasons ago.

I think I was lucky, neither of my national horses won in week 1, so there has been races in weeks 2,3 & 4 for them.

It is just not just for the long distance horses that this problem exists. My Derby horse won in week 1 and there has been no races for him either in weeks 2 & 3 unless I ran him in a totally wrong race.

I would have to go back and check but a few season ago, I am sure I had a 2yo miler who won in week 1 and never raced until about week 5.


I think there used to be some unwritten rule for long distance horses that they could run in races from 3m 5f up to 4m 3f as long as one race was over 4 miles and that you could get manual entries for these horses into other races.

I have been pushing for a handicap cap of 30f for ages.

This would mean anything deemed a 30f horse could rum in any race over 30f.

But it would also be able to race down to 27F (3m3f the shortest distance of what are officially designated as long distance races).

This would allow the true long distance horses to run in the Welsh and Irish Nationals and the Whitbread as they do in real life.

There also needd to be more long distance races for returning horses in the first 2 weeks. I have always found it strange that just about everyone enters two potential GN horses yet there is only one maiden and no opportunity for a winning returner in week 1. Also if you win that week 1 maiden your horse will get limited opportunities throughout the rest of the season due to its handicap mark and not having much chance of that mark dropping as you can't really race again unless you enter G races that are too short. Even then the hcapper is unlikely to drop your horse as he will take into account its running over a distance that isn't its best.

Totally in support of this.

Will this come in this season?

I have a horse called Sweet Women that ran under 4m last season but want to run her over 4m this season(a year older she is better over 4m and proven this in league trials) but not sure I can enter her in 4m+ races with the rules?

I think if it was agreed it could be implemented through manual entries.

Your horse should be eligible to run in the Velka Pardubicka over 4m in week 2. Do that and your sorted for the season

Thats great thanks