Simpleminds, i believe that the race bands have been knocked on the head for this season due to the handicapper for the flat leaving at start of the season, these bands where in place around the design of the handicappers ratings that he would award horses, if you look horses winning group 1 races are getting barely a 100 rating when they should be a lot higher, due to the ratings being given by TOM the handicap bands will just not work properly, i know its frustrating but get through this season as best as possible and then the problems will be sorted by Rich for the next season.

We could start sticking to the lower bands though, Hackett?

I dont know if anybody has been cheating and i sure as hell have'nt said anything about it up to now, but seeing as u brought it up keith i have to say that some of the results in the group races are questionable to say the very least... i have an important question to ask and its something that i have not heard anyone ask to date... How are the races run? What i mean is are they only run once and the result left at that, or is it that the races CAN be run several times resulting in several different outcomes... if it happens to be the latter i can tell u straight the league is a load of nonsense and will never work properly until this is changed... never! And anyone who is being honest on this forum and is not just trying to lick ass and find favour with the folk who control the league can only agree with that. Before anyone asks i have NOT had any runners in group races to date... my horses are simply not good enough and as it turns out now have no chance of winning a handicap because that is a complete shambles and there is no way any of mine are properly rated... anyone who wants to look at the performance of any of my horses and compare that to thier handicap marks go right ahead, im johnnyeastwall btw. Because of this i wont be wasting my time entering anymore races. Before the league began i read several people say 'the league is now set up so that anyone, even first timers can win a race'.... turns out this like many other things is very questionable, in fact it seems to me to be very much set up in the opposite. So i guess what im saying is to anyone who comes on here and picks on people who ask questions over the legitimacy of the league... think again, there are may things to be answered... like why change the handicap bands now that there is only a few weeks to go?? if this was possible it should have been done much much sooner. This is CRAZY pj rhodes not the fact that some people question how fair the league is.

John

Have you read what Hackett wrote? Every race is ran once, and once only. Why are the Group race results questionable?

You have some 2yo's which would win a race if you'd carried on running them? Although I agree the handicap bands should now be adhered too, there was very good reasoning as to why they weren't up to now. Im not going into that as you have just ranted without knowledge or bothering to read what others have said.

Did you read what i wrote?.. 'is it POSSIBLE to run the races several times resulting in several different outcomes?'

They are only ran once. Shall I say it a third time?

of course the races are run once like real life why would you think different

to me you have just had a major rant without any evidence to back up what you are saying

I am not licking anyone’s arse in fact that is a careless and classless remark look at the league table and you will see
36 trainers have won races Moilets a first year trainer only built his team a few weeks b4 start but managed his team brilliantly and placed his horses well and therefore got winners
he took the advice that me and Keith gave him b4 start and it has paid off for him

I have done loads of reviews and some trainers putting 74 rated horses in g1's when they could easily win handicaps

its about correctly managing your team
Someone else cant remember who also had a rant and told me I would never win a group race in the league because its all fixed if that was true would I have had 12 winners a group 2 the Lincoln handicap etc. i have no affiliation with the league management
i say it how i see it
it is a very fair & well run league


the handicaps dont work because Steve walked out on us and left the handicap side up in the air
but that dont mean you cant win handicap races with your horses you can many others have

agreed pj iwon a group 2 last year placed in a group1 a couple of times 10 winners overall that was my 1st season with a very limited string think this season has been buggered a little by steve leaving as half the races are like listed / group races even the lower handicaps have decent horses in them and when your horse gets allocated a nice weight a jock comes along putting up 8lb overweight frustrating at times but its not life n death

From what i can see John all your horses are ALL very well handicaped and you could win a good few of them
if you are giving up your loss mate

why have you only raced Good Old Way once he is your best horse
4th in maiden company that is solid form and he is nicely rated at 78 find it funny that you have only raced him once
if you dont enter your horses how are they ment to win

my advice to you John stick with it i bet you will get at least 5 winners by the end (if you place correctly)

What we need is someone who like steve do the ratings of horses it would solve all of the problems their must be someone somewhere who can find time and do it next season otherwise i will stick just to the jumps.

This is true but he as had his winners on the NH side where the handicapping is working i had my first season last season and had more flat winners than jump winners this season though i have had 4 jump winners and 0 on the flat yes my flat horses aint world beaters but are better than last seasons bunch so to see them struggle in low end handicaps carrying overweight because horses who are above the rated brackets running is pointless to me.



Then what is the point of me and others like me who have horses that are years behind most trainers breeding entering the flat league this year.

If anyone else thinks the Group race results are "questionable" please look at the Irish Oaks.

The league has been always run like this and will continue to be run like this until Mark (maker of the game) decides to add a multi-player online-feature. We go by the honor system and trust the people in charge of the races.

If you feel that people are cheating then you don't have to join the league. But I for one trust everyone involved because it takes so much effort running the league. So many people involved doing a lot of work.

It's true that the handicap rating system this season is FUBAR'd but we lost our handicapper. I did volunteer but I think I did too late when the ratings are already all over the place. So now we just have to live with what we have.

Yes, this could be worth doing, just depends on if everyone will go for it and if all are aware of whats been changed, not all trainers get on here regular to check what has been changed which leads to confusion.

Any horses entered over the ratings band are going to have to contend with top weight, that is no easy task winning of top weight believe me. I cant really say much more other then do as you see fit, the league i think now still has more chances of any trainer picking up winners then it ever has, PJR is not wrong when he says the key point is placement of your horses! Finding another to do the handicapping job is hard! It is a MASSIVE job and takes up a lot of time, just dont think people realise just how big it is, As handicapper once you have gone through the races and decided whos rating should be moved up and down compared to what TOM has put them on, you would have to update all the files for each horse, having the league set up on the basis that one person is willing to do this all season
might have been the wrong decision, i will hold my hand up and say that i wanted it to be done like this as it made the league playable for all on all levels but when you have to trust one with all that work and that they will not have other things come up in the middle of the season is maybe just unfair.