Louis & Karel - talking Merit Ratings

I am down at Ashburton and driving back today. When I have a chance I will look at the 3 horses form and comment.
However, Effortless Reward's increase is correct in terms if the system, if you believe in the systemu. But, Hashtag Strat got a point added for second.... thereby resulting in the line horse being the 3rd horse....a horse that badly needs some relief, imho. That is, of course, if you really like the MR system.
Just a dumb question....how does Tarry's filly, Rebel to the Fore, get a 6 Point drop after running 3rd last week ? She is a short priced favourite who got cleaned up at the start in a 1000m race...

I see Pilou nominated on open company, with a MR 74 after a good win by 6 lengths in the maidens. Is this the correct rating, by comparison to other recent maiden winners ?

My take, as always, is that we do need a handicapping system but that it makes no sense to endeavour to stop, restrict or smother the nice horses, when the long suffering few Owners eventually find one.

And the same applies to Punters, in terms of a "good thing".

On the other side of the coin why should other long suffering owners give weight to a "nice one" in a handicap?

Which is why there is no crisis in Racing and why Owners are climbing over each other to get into racing....
We have a problem that needs fixing. Simple.

Naresh is and has been baiting me on this site re MR - previously with Miss K etc. He wants me to say one or more of a few things, eg
1)That horse ran in Features
2)That horse deserves that rating.
3)The number of wins mean nothing.
These are what the parrots who believe in MR will always use.
The bottom line remains that love it or hate it, I have to work around MR as I have no other option. Which could be why Miss K won 9 races, Trip Tease 15 races, One Man's Dream 8 races, Doing it for Dan and Effortless Reward etc. Maybe it's worth considering that it's not always necessary to jump straight into the Features with every horse and to place the horse through the divisions first...?
Surely the Features will come in good time, if the horse is good enough and after a few wins first ?

Goosen sometimes ( not often ) I wonder if you do this on purpose


So here you have it from me one of your owners

If I'm blessed with a horse to win the July I want it running there with as few miles in the tank
As possible. Don't stress about brining it along the divisions. Let's go with the Auden O Brian approach. 2 runs and Derby.

The MR system is flawed but not as flawed as the people that still don't understand it.

Apologies Louis, I was not trying to bait you. Please see my posts on ABC, I am not offensive to any posters. Apologies, if I came across harsh. As you stated in your above post, its always not necessary to go straight into features. Negev ended up with a MR of 90 after running third in a grade 3 and its highest rating achieved was 95 after beating Ilha Bela. You must be thought something of Negev to put in a Grade 3 early in her career. She ended her career on 84, maybe thats what she was worth on ratings.

Imagine how many new owners would stay in the game if they were lucky enough to have a moderate horse trained by St John Gray - Where's My Chop - 12 wins - started racing in 2010 finished 2015 - Tell My Star - 9 time winner started racing in 2013 and has never been higher than a 77....Yer-Maan 11 wins started racing in 2011 .

It's hard on punters who are not privy to trainers intention to lower a horse's rating intentionally but the system is there and many astute trainers, Lg being one of them, are able to work legally within the system to achieve wins for owners with horses that otherwise would be 1 or 2 time winners.

Here is a crazy example that i have knowledge of - two half sisters both with the same trainer - The first was average and never acheived a rating higher than 73 - she retired a 5 time winner... Her younger sister won 3 of her first 5 starts and actually placed in GP 1 company but it is doubtful if she will win five races unless the trainer can get her MR down as she is no longer Feature Race material - Now if the trainer does that and she drops to say an 80 and then wins a handicap at long odds the punters cry but what is the trainer to do? He races her on merit and she keeps getting dropped - he sends her out trying every time but soon enough she will regain that early form when her rating is down and will win.
I don't have an answer but I personally think that the MR system has kept many moderate horses running for longer which can only aid the smaller owner who may not be blessed with a horse bred to win graded races...

Rebel To The Fore is now MR 78.

As per the Handicapping Guidelines,

The following general principle will be followed:

Horses not having made the anticipated WFA improvement must be brought back to 50% of its
previous highest nett rating within 2 runs.
Horses not having made the anticipated WFA improvements must be brought back to its highest
achieved nett rating within 3 runs.
The Handicappers could reduce the merit rating a little more slowly where good cause is shown.

louisg wrote: Which is why there is no crisis in Racing and why Owners are climbing over each other to get into racing....
We have a problem that needs fixing. Simple.

Naresh is and has been baiting me on this site re MR - previously with Miss K etc. He wants me to say one or more of a few things, eg
1)That horse ran in Features
2)That horse deserves that rating.
3)The number of wins mean nothing.
These are what the parrots who believe in MR will always use.
The bottom line remains that love it or hate it, I have to work around MR as I have no other option. Which could be why Miss K won 9 races, Trip Tease 15 races, One Man's Dream 8 races, Doing it for Dan and Effortless Reward etc. Maybe it's worth considering that it's not always necessary to jump straight into the Features with every horse and to place the horse through the divisions first...?
Surely the Features will come in good time, if the horse is good enough and after a few wins first ?

I am not going to beat the MR drum again .... imo there is no comparison and MR has helped many a horse to prolong his / her career and that can't be bad for the game - weight them in handicaps according to ability and MR is intended to mirror ability.

Interesting point raised though about how to plan a horse with some ability's career - if you go the feature route and he/she is good enough to win one or more, then imo the owners would be ahead financially (due to the higher prize money), as opposed to following the handicap route where he/she would have to win more (at least double?) the number of races to end up in the same position as having followed the 'feature' route ... of course if he / she only places in these features, the equation changes ...

In general if a horse has won a couple of early features, he/she would end up with a higher rating than having won 4 or 5 handicaps, giving him/her a smaller chance to extend earnings off that higher rating - however one also has to weigh up the risk - perhaps by the time these bigger features (e.g. July etc) comes along, the horse might have picked up a few niggles and not be able to produce what is needed .... a bird in hand ....

Imo there is no definite answer to this dilemma, and as with life, luck / destiny (call it what you will) will play it's part :ohmy:

I am reading this old post for the first time. I am wondering why Miedema stopped contributing? I am quite sure that like all the other MR advocates, he simply could not answer Gooses questions. Those of you that think MR advances racing well to be blunt you need your head read. 8 time winners with a MR that never scared 85 tells its own story. This system rewards mediocracy and I am in full agreement with Goose, it needs replacing.

If it wasnt for merit ratings then racing would have already at the point where only the big 10 owners have own horses .... most small owners would been gone.

I love the merit rating system.

Punters loved the old system because it was easy to find standout bets on almost every card but nowadays its not easy with a more levelled playing field in handicaps

Handicaps are supposed to be "exploited" by horses "well in" the biggest betting races in the UK are Handicaps.

Of ALL the trainers I have horses in South Africa NOT 1 has ever told me


" there is a mile handicap race in 300 days time which we will win and this is how we going to do it."

NOT 1