Jump Pattern Committee Anounce Race Upgrades for 2016/2017

The Irish changes look good. Anything that encourages top-class horses to run in handicaps is to be welcomed, imo. They look far more dynamic and mouth-watering, than the BHA's farting about with the juvenile programme (snooze).
 
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I agree Grass.

It would be great to see a few better quality horses run in a few of these handicaps.

I just hope that's what actually occurs and not just increased prize money for the system players.
 
The principle behind the changes is positive enough, I suppose. It's true that there were too many Graded races in the Irish NH programme.

But will the impact be all that great? The prize money for the downgraded contests is being maintained at existing levels, and 8 of the 12 races being downgraded are for novices. You'd imagine that fields for these races will be much the same as before, because they are for horses on their way up rather than already at the top, and therefore the issue of penalties for previous wins in Graded races is less likely to arise.

The real news I guess is that whatever extra money is available is being channelled into big handicaps, including the Irish National. No harm there, I suppose, although I think the prize money for both the so called Irish Gold Cup and the Lexus have fallen well behind where they need to be if they are to continue attracting their fair share of the best. One of them, probably the Lexus, should get a boost I reckon.
 
Granted, Art, we need to see how it plays-out. As you say, there is a risk that it will have limited practical impact near-term, but it's very-much a step in the right direction, imo.

At the very least, it will give trainers more options, in terms of how they campaign their horses.

Insofar as decent novices are concerned, the hurly-burly of a good handicap, is just the sort of race a trainer might target, to see how his horse will cope with a big/packed field at the Festival. It may be preferable to a trot-round in a 3-runner race, against vastly-inferior opposition, who are only there in the hope of pilfering some decent prize-money.

Poorly-contested Graded events can often be punitive anyway - especially smart hurdlers going chasing. 'Classy' novices with the right kind of profile, can be given marks in the 150-range after winning a couple of weak Graded races before December. They get those kind of marks, because the handicapper has nothing much to go on, and he won't take any chances.

They actively discourage novices from running in open handicaps (for the obvious reasons) but oftentimes, horses are thereafter quickly exposed as not really good enough for the better Graded novice races either - rendering them classic 'No Mans Land' cases (Ballycasey would perhaps be an example).

This is scenario that can take a long time to correct too, and it's all because they win too early, at a level they can't sustain over the course of their careers. Some connections might welcome the opportunity to run in valuable handicaps instead of Graded races, as it might result in more realistic handicapping of their horse, than would otherwise be the case, in a poor Graded event.
 
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I'm not sure having less graded races will force the top novices to take on each other, as prize money remains the same and its not like they have stud careers to think of.

It's a start though to improving the product and competitiveness overall. I f I had one hope for all of this, it would be that we see some good horses entered up in handicaps and possibly stronger renewals of graded races
 
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