merit ratings and non-fields

Cape Times, 1 May 2014

Plea ‘for the good of racing’ JUSTIN Snaith (pictured) has made a request for trainers to come to the party in solving a countrywide problem whereby races don’t stand up due to a lack of acceptors and he has done it “for the good of racing.”

The problem looks likely to affect a number of Champions Season contenders that can’t get their pipe openers, although it has generally not had any impact on his yard as his visiting string consists mainly of horses with the proven performance and accompanying merit ratings to get into feature races.

In a recent example a handicap race scheduled for Wednesday, April 16 was divided due to the over subscription and the higher division then had 28 remaining nominees. Of these only three stood their ground. All three of them were Mike Bass-trained Champions Season contenders, Gifted For Glory, Global Express and Night Trip, who were consequently left without their intended run as the race had to be scrapped.

Snaith referred to the merit rating restrictions placed on visiting trainers that was put in place at the request of local trainers and said that in that case the latter should at least then show an intention of filling the fields, although it should be pointed out that of the 25 scratchings in the aforementioned example, eleven of them were by Capebased trainers.
The problem is particularly relevant this season due to the number of runners at Greyville currently being restricted to 12, meaning many big race contenders may have to look elsewhere for their preparations.

The Vodacom Durban July will have a field of 16, but the build-up features are currently being restricted to 12.

One of the reasons behind the problem of races not standing up could be the abuse of free nominations, whereby yards enter a host of horses without doing their homework beforehand.

Those trainers who have done their homework then see their horse drawn in the 100s and scratch without knowing that the field would possibly cut down to twelve or less.

While scouring the internet for info on Bertie Hayden , I saw an interview with a website were Bertie says that the Merit Rating system is unfair on young horses

Damn, and here I thought I was unique in thinking that.