Poor Fields? Solutions?

Much has been said about the poor quality of horses taking up places in noms and declarations. I have a take on this – turn the lemon into lemonade:
Set clear divisions in Handicaps e.g. 78-60. Horses that are nominated with a MR above or below the levels e.g. a 58 (2pts below) pay R100 per MR point (in this case R200) on NOMINATION and another R100 per point if the get into the final field. Obviously horses above the MR face the same ‘tax’. The trainer of the horse would be responsible for paying this amount and NOT the owner (very strictly controlled) to prevent trainers from wasting time when they know they have zero chance of getting into a race or racing a horse that is too weak to contest at the 78-60 level. Maidens should get perhaps 6 chances to place in the first 6 – after that then the trainer would have to pay an automatic R1000 (split R500 on nomination – R500 at acceptance) if he wished to contest the race.
Nomination fees collected in this manner would be allocated to provide extra races only in the 78-60 level and Maiden races.
What do you guys think (there are way too many mediocre horses around so I don't think telling owners to go to weaker centres is the answer)

Mr H, you certainly addressing a factor that I believe contributes to poorer racing.

One of the many faults of handicap racing as we practice it is that the system has a rating system that identifies talent,
but rewards players who can hide it somehow.

At the end of the day, in general we reward failure.

By sunset, we've screwed good horses for the benefit of crap.

Next day...poorer racing.

And repeat till you arrive at the point where although SA exports their strongest horses ever,
we have to introduce Qualified Maiden Plates and MR66's (10 points below an indifferent Maiden race).


At least the previous system had the integrity of a ladder effect, where every time you advanced you had to make the grade so the cream rose, not the shit.

What ever happens you don`t want horses running for £1300 like we have in the uk atm

Plus is it costs plenty GBP to train?

I remember doing a comparison with SA and UK with maidens if you win a maiden your training is covered for so many months?

I think SA was at least 6 ?

and the UK about one?

stand under correction

For every one maiden race run in SA there are 20 run in the UK

chicken 'n chips Wrote:

---

> For every one maiden race run in SA there are 20
> run in the UK


And for every thoroughbred in SA there are how many in the UK?

Frodo Wrote:

---

> chicken 'n chips Wrote:
>

---

>

---

> > For every one maiden race run in SA there are
> 20
> > run in the UK
>
>
> And for every thoroughbred in SA there are how
> many in the UK?


Plenty more Frodo. What my post was suggesting was the fact that the stakes are not as high in maidens in the UK as they are in SA because of the amount of maiden races. I was not having a dig.

chicken 'n chips Wrote:

---

> Frodo Wrote:
>

---

>

---

> > chicken 'n chips Wrote:
> >
>

---

>
> >

---

> > > For every one maiden race run in SA there are
> > 20
> > > run in the UK
> >
> >
> > And for every thoroughbred in SA there are how
> > many in the UK?
>
>
> Plenty more Frodo. What my post was suggesting was
> the fact that the stakes are not as high in
> maidens in the UK as they are in SA because of
> the amount of maiden races. I was not having a
> dig.


Not having a dig either and I accept your point - just trying to find out if there are also 20 x more thoroughbreds racing in the UK, or 10 x more, or 5 x more.

ok guys here are the questions

how many horses is training SA ...........UK.................USA

how many races are there (lets just stick to maidens) in a season

I did a post on racetracks the other day in UK and Ireland, we can use our fingers for SA

how much does a maiden win and how much are the training fees...............or without using exchange rates, if a horse wins a race in SA/UK/USA .................how long does it pay for itself

txs

Frodo if you take a look at the fields during the summer just for the flat racing then that should start giving you an answer. Somedays there are up to 8 flat meetings with each meeting having an average 7 races and with each race an average between 12 and 20 runners. (although sometimes we have to endure with 3 0r 4 and even at times a 2 runner race). I would not hazard a guess as to how many race horses there are in the UK

Prize money compared to betting turnover in the UK= PEANUTS..

The clerk of the course at Perth said in a tv interview that Betfair has killed horse racing in the UK,and not to let the tiny amount that they offer in sponsorship hide the fact that they and the bookies that have moved abroad for tax reasons hardly contribute to racing..

Back to the original point; I don't have the answer, but I think the suggestion put forward by Mr H will only lead to smaller fields and less opportunity to get a run - imo what is needed is another track (yes pie-in-the-sky I know) so that we can use the godforsaken Vaal track as the new Bloem and cater for the 'moderate' horses at that venue