It is a reality that handicapping is a well chewed bone of contention whenever racing people congregate and that fingers have been pointed left, right and centre at the handicappers for many years.
Robert Blooomberg – racing industry’s legal eagle
Specialist horseracing Attorney Robert Bloomberg has now provided insight into the process that gave rise to the National Horseracing Authority announcing new handicapping policy guidelines this week.
Read more about the policy changes here.
In an interview with the Sporting Post, Bloomberg confirmed that he had drafted a proposal document for consideration by the National Horseracing Authority, following a mandate from industry stakeholders.
An NHA sub-committee had considered the proposals and these had been tabled, with implementation due on Monday 25 April.
RA CEO Larry Wainstein – chaired heated conference
“Following a vote of no-confidence document signed by numerous trainers, various industry participants, racing operators, the NHA and handicapper Matthew Lips gave input and suggestions to improve the handicapping framework via a heated video conference chaired by Racing Association CEO Larry Wainstein in early December 2015. I was then subsequently mandated to draft the proposal, which also included new measures to improve the programming of races and to try and make the process more effective in assisting with field sizes,” said Bloomberg.
The operators will apparently be conducting a workshop soon to deal with this aspect.
Graeme Hawkins – knowledgeable
Bloomberg went on to add that major industry players with intrinsic handicapping and racing knowledge had provided valuable input for the document.
The list includes trainers Mike de Kock, Sean Tarry, Joe Soma, Tony Rivalland, Paul Lafferty, Brett Crawford and Vaughan Marshall, as well as Graeme Hawkins, Jehan Malherbe, Derek Brugman and Justin Vermaak.
“I believe that the racing public and the industry at large needs to understand that we wanted to find a system that worked for the betterment of South African racing. There are no hidden agendas – our aim was always to create the most viable solution and structure in the best interests of the game,” said Bloomberg in closing.
