The National Racing Bureau has issued a notice in respect of changes to certain categories of race on the KZN Race Programme.
The changes are highlighted below.
1. Bridging of Entry and Declaration Dates:
As from 1 August 2016 all minor race Entries will be done one day before Declarations. If a race meeting is on a Sunday, Entries will be done on the Monday and Declarations on Tuesday, subject to public holidays.
2. Amendment to Racing Operators Condition 7.4.1.4.4.1.
However, in MR74 / FM72 and lower handicaps in KwaZulu-Natal, raiders shall be eliminated first (this to apply on a trial basis from 1 August to 31 December 2016), then Local KZN Trainers shall have the preference of nominating ONE guaranteed runner at declaration stage.
If there are more guaranteed runners than the size of the field requires, elimination will be from the lowest Net Merit Rating upwards.
Should two or more horses have the same Net Merit Rating, Condition 7.4.1.4.6. shall apply. After establishing guaranteed runners, the remaining declarations will constitute a pool, thereafter, elimination of horses in brackets of two or more until Trainers have the same number of horses in the pool, elimination will be from the lowest Net Merit Rating upwards.
Should two or more horses have the same Net Merit Rating, Condition 7.4.1.4.6. shall apply.
Paul Lafferty
Paul Lafferty, Chairman of the KZN Trainers’ Association confirmed that the move had been requested by the KZN Trainers.
It had been agreed at the KZN Racing Committee Meeting of 17 June 2016.
“The meeting was held while I was in hospital and my deputy, Tony Rivalland, chaired it in my absence. While we welcome raiders, we are getting 100 noms per race. The local guys just aren’t getting runs and are getting stuck with the lower level horses, so there was a unanimous call that the out of town raiders must come out first in the lower rated races.”
Raf Sheik, Gold Circle Racing Executive explained how the new restrictions will work in practice.
In this category (MR74 / FM72 and below) each trainer has the option of 1 preferred runner, if there is a field of 20 declarations, each trainer can nominate one preferred runner. After establishing guaranteed runners, the remaining declarations will constitute a pool, thereafter, elimination of horses in brackets of two or more until Trainers have the same number of horses in the pool, elimination will be from the lowest Net Merit Rating upwards.”
“Visiting trainers will only be permitted to run horses in these races if there are a lower number of KZN acceptors than the field size requires.”
“It does get difficult because there is no uniform rule across the country. There are currently similar restrictions in place in Port Elizabeth and Flamingo Park. In PE, each trainer is allowed to choose 2 preferred runners in maiden races and 1 in the handicaps. In Flamingo Park, each trainer is allowed to choose 1 preferred runner in the maidens and 1 in the handicaps. There are currently no such restrictions in Johannesburg or Cape Town.”
In KZN we are seeing plenty of nominations and one contributing factor may be that we don’t charge nomination fees, because despite the high number of nominations, you still often end up with small field sizes with only 8 horses running. To try and address that, we’ve brought the entry and declaration dates closer and entries are now due one day before declarations (excluding public holidays and feature races). In the Cape, we have also returned to draws after declarations to try and enhance the field sizes.”
“The KZN restrictions are being implemented for a trial period and will run from 1 August 2016 – 31 December 2016.”
