Veteran Summerveld trainer Paul Lafferty has called for something to be done about the handicapping of 3yo’s in South Africa.
“Something has to be done – we can’t be steamrollered like this,” he added while speaking in the post-race interview of his post-maiden winner View Of The World (rated 84) for owner John Finlayson after the fifth race, an MR 76 Handicap, at Hollywoodbets Scottsville on Sunday.
Trainer Paul Lafferty and his team lead View Of The World (Brevan Plaatjies) in after his second consecutive win on Sunday (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
A visibly frustrated Laff said that ‘you win a race and you’re an 80 or 90’.
“Yes we think View Of The World is a nice horse, but we had to claim 4kgs again today,” he lamented, explaining that he thought so highly of his charge that he had bought the Erik The Red half- sister before Sunday’s winner had even won.
“Look at Frank Robinson’s maiden. He’s an 86 and ran unplaced in the second today!”
He was referring to My Boy Lollipop who was having his eighth start and ran below midfield in the 1200m Maiden Plate.
“It’s making me mad. And I’m not alone. It’s bad for the public, it’s bad for trainers, it’s bad for owners,” he concluded.
In the very next race, Lunarcam’s part-owner Brian Airey, who along with Dr Manfred Rohwer, was enjoying his first ever six-time winner, came out in support of Paul Lafferty’s comments.
The Sporting Post is aware that the National Horseracing Authority Handicappers annually review the handicap performances of the three-year-old crop after the first two months of the current season.
The regulator has stated in years past that the NHA Handicappers are tasked with ensuring that all horses in handicaps have an equal chance of winning as per the rules of the NHA.
Rule: 47.3.2 states that a handicap, shall be a race in which the weights to be carried by the HORSES are allocated by the handicapper for the purpose of equalising their chances of winning.
The NHA have noted previously that there is a trend that the three-year-old crop consistently outperform their older rivals. This is apparently likely due to their freshness in racing, their propensity to improve more rapidly than older horses, and the likelihood that trainers take advantage of the favourable WFA for the more mature three-year-old’s early in the season.
The Sporting Post has requested the National Horseracing Authority provide a counter argument for the suggestion that they have got the 3yo handicapping as badly wrong as has been suggested.
This will be published if a response is received.
