Okay this is my final offer:

1. I change the UK Schedule for next season
2. I act as handicapper for the UK League for next season
3. I bring back the Newsletter or Website (depending on which is preferred) for the UK League for next season.

Its a yes or no question as I would like to make the schedule before christmas and then give people time to peruse it and ask for changes.

Up to you Rich.

Steve,

When you say do another schedule are you doing one that has more races a week in it or the same amount of races a week but more of a spread, Do you know what TOM can handle regarding extra races i know you worked on the previous schedule so you might know, do you have any idea what Rich has planned for next season? I know he hinted about plans for USRA but did not go into any details, so what you have planned may not fit in with what he has in mind to change next season. Rich is doing a good job so far in his first season and did say he wanted to see how things went before making major changes but he would make them if he thought it necessary, hope these changes someway involve you as i know you put a lot of work in when you are involved. Am i right in also saying that this issue with races being to top heavy was argued about before in previous seasons and is something that Rich has inherited with the job as president rather then him being the cause for this problem?

Hi Hackett,

I would work within the number of races allocated I don't know what that figure is.
If it remains the same then I would reduce the number of group races and introduce more handicaps.
Adding a few more maidens where required.
As this league would finish before March next season, I would hope to parallel the real flat season.
Imagine having the build up to Royal Ascot in real life and in the league at the same time would be great.
If more races per week could be added then I would be happy to adapt to that.
I don't know what Rich has planned correct.
Maybe if he shared his plans on here we could have a better picture of where the league is going.
We should all be sharing ideas and deciding as a community the best way forward with Rich having the ultimate decision making authority.
But Rich needs to make a decision on my offer before we go any further.
Rich has inherited the schedule, but had time to change it, reading his responses to questions about the schedule he feels it is okay - I don't.
I made a few changes to it last year, but didn't have the authority to give it a major overhaul - just to tweak it slightly.
All the group races were already in the schedule - I just worked in some handicaps.
I am very happy to see Rich as President, I just want to improve the schedule, handicap ratings, and create a newsletter that will bring everyone together.
Steve

I would love for you to bring your ideas to the table.

However, we will make these decisions when the current league finishes. The reason being at the end of the season we can all discuss how the changes worked. Is 2/3 runs before a handicap fair in the league which has limited races anyway? Is one run enough for a handicapper to make a fair decision? Is it fair to ask for all horses to have run before entering a Group 1? Do we need more handicaps or a more intelligent approach to restricted/banded races?

We need to make these decisions at the end of the season once they have played their course, there will be at least 2 months between the end of the current season and the start of the next to allow everyone to recharge. We will discuss what went well, what could be improved etc. We will also hopefully have the new TOM done and be able to explore it's functionality for things like NHC novices, handicapping and the like.

Until then there is no way we can maximise the schedule to it's full potential.

Banded races definately need looking at. Never saw the point of restricting lowly handicaps and never saw the support in the number of runners, way too restrictive. 5 runner fields at best means something is wrong, up the prize money and make it more attractive might be the answer.
Let`s face it we all join and upload our best horses thinking we`re gonna win easy then reality hits home after the first few weeks and what now? 10k banded race or try again for 100k+ race, no dilema there, just gonna try again.
Restricted races are also more attractive when the prize money is raised and a way for upcoming trainers to win something substantial with group types.
Answer = more prize money! And why not? Money in the league really doesn`t matter but prize money does.