Whisper it quietly but some of racing’s rule changes actually work and need applauding.
One of those was the introduction last season of an upward revision to the number of runs required to qualify for handicaps at the Cheltenham Festival to five runs for hurdlers and four for chasers.
Any handicap system without rigorous policing can easily become a cheat’s charter. Hiding the true ability of a horse until it qualifies for a mark has long been a game of cat and mouse between trainers and handicappers so the increase in the number of runs before being eligible to run in the most valuable handicaps is eminently sensible for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, the more information a handicapper (and punter) has about the ability of a horse the more accurate its mark is likely to be. This should lead to more competitive racing and markets because there is no massive handicap blot that others will avoid or will skew the prices.
Secondly, the requirement for more runs boosts field sizes during the course of the season as well as increasing the likelihood that at least one of those runs will also have already been in a handicap.
