The time has come for three-year-old handicaps in the spring that carry black-type status to be reviewed.
The principal of a race carrying Group I, II, III or Listed status is to highlight outstanding performers from each generation but there have been some recent examples where potential black type horses have, perhaps unjustifiably, not gained that honour in handicaps.
Let me be clear, while not all purists would agree, I am all for handicap races carrying black-type status but I don't agree with it when a horse that has won a maiden and two midweek races has to give the entire field 4kg - which was the case last Saturday.
What's the problem? It centres around what I would call second tier stakes races, races like the recent Dulcify Quality and the Reginald Allen Quality at Randwick last Saturday. The races didn't have runners with sufficient exposure.
Let's look at the winner of the Reginald Allen Quality, Torvill.
Firstly, full credit to the connections, they played within the rules and made their daughter of Not A Single Doubt an extremely valuable commodity.
Torvill went into Saturday's event the winner of a Wyong fillies and mares' maiden.
It was obvious she's shown trainer Clarry Connors ability because on debut she ran fourth in the Group II Sweet Embrace 2YO Stakes but since her maiden win she'd finished second and third in provincial grade class two handicaps.
I'm all for Torvill getting weighted off her benchmark rating had the race been a typical Saturday benchmark 75 race, but it wasn't – it was a race that carries importance to the quality of our racing and will be recognised for generations to come in the stud book and sales catalogues.
The highest rated horse in the Reginald Allen Quality was Godolphin filly Regimen and she went into the race with a benchmark rating of 75, In Sydney we run $100,000 benchmark 75 races for three-year-olds on Saturdays most weeks of the year.
As I said earlier Regimen had won a provincial maiden and two midweek races and in a feature race that shouldn't incur a penalty, let alone giving every rival at least 4kg, in her first attempt at a Saturday race especially when it's at Listed level.
The daughter of Sepoy was beaten a length, into fourth placing and there's no doubt she was the best horse in the race, which I thought black type races were all about identifying?
So what's the answer? For me there are two easy fixes, it depends which way the authorities want to go about it.
Either make these races so early in the season set weights and penalties events or implement a rule so a horse's benchmark rating isn't factored in until they get above 75, because that is the standard rating used week in week out in a Saturday $100,000 three-year-old benchmark handicap.
Applying my suggestions, now let's have a look at the Dulcify Quality.
The top weight was Tangled (benchmark 80) and he carried 60.5kg. Closest to him in the weights was Sambro (benchmark 73) and he had 57kg while the winner, a benchmark 62 horse, Ataraxia a provincial maiden winner, had the minimum of 53kg.
If the race was set weights and penalties, Tangled would have carried a 2.5kg penalty (based on the weights penalties applied in the 3YO Run To The Rose last month) for his win as a juvenile in the Group II Champagne Classic.
He would have also carried 2.5kg above the limit if we chose to not weight horses in a stakes race until they have a minimum rating of 75.
Tangled was beaten three-quarters of a length in the Dulcify Quality and the chances are if the race was set weights and penalties or an amended handicap as suggested he would have won. Tangled again showed his quality a week later when second to Ace High in the Spring Champion Stakes.
As I said earlier, I'm only suggesting this change for spring three-year-old races as many runners don't have sufficient racing exposure to worthy handicap and I don't believe midweek or provincial wins should see any horse carry above the minimum weight until their rating goes beyond a certain point.
Black-type status in races is something that should be taken extremely seriously and for me, handicapping horses of their benchmark ratings in these two examples contradict and discredit what we are trying to achieve in Group and Listed races.
