What does ‘out of the handicap’ mean?

In handicap races, the weight carried by each horse is determined by its official handicap rating, as assigned by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA). The race conditions for a ‘Class 6’ handicap on the Flat, for example, might specify that the race is open to horses officially rated 46-65, but horses rated 45 and below are also eligible. In such a race, a horse rated 65 would carry top weight, say, 9st 7lb, a horse rated 64 would carry 9st 6lb, and so on.

At the bottom of the handicap, a horse rated 46 would be required to carry 19lb less than a horse rated 65 or, in this example, 8st 2lb, which would be the minimum weight applicable. Thus, if a horse rated 45 was entered for the race, its rating would merit carrying 8st 1lb, or 1lb lower than the minimum weight applicable. Such a horse can compete, but must carry 1lb more than its ‘true’ handicap mark, and is said to be racing from ‘1lb out of the handicap’.

If a horse is running from out of the handicap, its name will be listed in the ‘Long Handicap’ section of the racecard, along with the weight it would be carrying if allowed to run off its correct mark. Of course, it is not unknown for horses to win from out of the handicap but, win or lose, they are competing on disadvantageous terms, in the eyes of the official handicapper and should be treated with caution.

What is jump racing?

As the same suggests, jump racing is the discipline of horse racing that involves jumping obstacles of one form or another. Jump, or National Hunt, races can be divided in hurdle races, steeplechases and, rather confusingly, National Hunt Flat races, which involve no obstacles at all. Hurdles are the smaller type of obstacle, standing a minium of 3’1″ high and consisting of lightweight, brushwood panels driven into the ground. Unlike hurdles, which are often knocked flat during a race, steeplechase fences are tallest, more rigid obstacles. They must be a minimum of 4’6″ high, but in the case of ‘The Chair’, which is the tallest fence on the Grand National course, can reach 5’3″ in height.

Jump races are typically run over distances between 2 miles and 4 miles 2½ furlongs, the latter being the distance of the world famous Grand National, run at Aintree Racecourse in April each year. Nowadays, jump racing takes place all year round, almost without interruption, but for National Hunt purists, the season ‘proper’ still starts in mid-October and ends in late April or early May. Aside from the Grand National, the highlight of the National Hunt season is undoubtedly the Cheltenham Festival, staged annually in March; the four-day Festival features the Champion Hurdle, Queen Mother Champion Chase, Stayers’ Hurdle and Cheltenham Gold Cup, which are ‘championship’ races in their respective disciplines.

What is a novice?

Of course, the term ‘novice’ is often used in the sense of a beginner, to describe a horse that is unfamiliar or inexperienced in a particular discipline, or racing in general but, under the Rules of Racing, has specific meanings.

In National Hunt racing, a ‘novice’ is defined as a horse that has not won a race in its selected discipline, regardless of how many attempts it has made, before the start of the current season.

Obviously, in Britain, National Hunt racing takes place all year ’round so, for the purposes of determining novice status, the current season starts the day after the end of the previous season in late April. Thus, a horse that has yet to win a race over hurdles before late April remains a ‘novice hurdler’ and, likewise, a horse that has yet to win over fences remains a ‘novice chaser’.

On the Flat, a ‘novice’ is defined in the race categories with ‘novice’ in the title, namely novice, novice auction or median auction novice races. Essentially, to qualify as a novice, a horse must not have won more than two Flat races, of any kind, or more than one ‘Class 2’ race, or a ‘Class 1’ race. For 3-year-olds and upwards, a horse becomes ineligible for novice races as soon as it has run at least three times and won a race, of any kind.

Which is the oldest racecourse in Britain?

Established in 1539, perhaps surprisingly, on the site of a Roman harbour on the River Dee, Chester Racecourse is the oldest racourse in Britain, according to Guinness World Records. Chester Racecourse is also known as the ‘Roodee’ or ‘Roodeye’, meaning ‘Island of the Cross’, after the silt island which, by the Middle Ages, had accumulated in the middle of the watercourse and once bore a stone cross.

The first recorded race at Chester Racecourse was staged on February 9, 1539 and, in his second term as Mayor of Chester, Henry Gee gave his seal of approval to an annual meeting, which was held on Shrove Tuesday until 1609 and on St. George’s Day thereafter. Gee died in 1545, but is commemorated by the Henry Gee Stakes, run annually in July.

Chester Racecourse prospered and, although the first grandstand wasn’t built until 1817, the Dee Stakes, nowadays a Listed race, was run for the first time in 1813. The Chester Cup was inaugurated, as the Tradesman’s Cup, in 1824 and was followed by the Chester Vase, still a recognised Derby trial, in 1907. Some years earlier, in 1892, the racecourse was enclosed and admission charges made for the first time.

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