Mounted. Justin Snaith spoke his mind
Leading South African trainer Justin Snaith slammed the National Horseracing Authority’s handicappers on Tellytrack this morning.
The Phillipi-based horseman currently leads the national trainer log in terms of winners .
Interviewed live on the Guineas day preview show, Snaith said that our handicappers were killing racing with their assessment and merit rating of 2yo’s.
“It is ridiculous the way the handicappers are applying merit ratings. The whole idea of buying a nice horse at the ready to run sales is to hopefully achieve a quick return on investment if they are good enough and put some fun back into owning and racing horses,” he said.
Snaith went on to say that we needed to learn from the Australian model, where ownership was encouraged and quick returns and fun were achieved. “ Let the horse win his races. If he is not good enough then the owner can make his own call,” he suggested.
While we were unable to elicit a response from the National Horseracing Authority of South Africa, as their offices are closed on weekends, their website says that the ever-increasing exposure of South African horses to the international world of Thoroughbred horse racing has made it important to have a handicap system that is readily recognized by the global community.
With this objective in mind ‘merit handicapping’ was implemented as the method of rating horses in South Africa since 1999.
Wakey Wakey. When are the powers-that-be going to listen to the guys on the ground?
Whilst a system of handicapping on merit provides for Competitive racing domestically the benefit is the accurate assessment of the racing standard of Southern African horses relative to that of the global thoroughbred herd.
The Late genius of Timeform’s Phil Bull was once asked whether handicapping is an art or a science.
“A bit of both -It can never be an exact science because OPINION as well as FACT is involved.”
In a refreshingly outspoken approach, Snaith also had a lighthearted dig at the recent KwaZulu-Natal protectionist policy introduced at the expense of outside trainers.
Certain Cape trainers were given their marching orders recently, and Snaith countered this by welcoming visiting trainers:
“ In Cape Town we say the more the merrier and welcome the visitors. It improves the competitiveness and quality of the racing and that is good for the sport as a whole.”
Snaith is hoping that the ‘right people’ were listening to his plea.
