It is time the Australian Racing Board (ARB) and the handicappers settled on some sort of symmetry between the allotted weights and the Handicapper Rating figures.This Saturday in the 3yo Open 2000m handicap at Caulfield Kidnapped, trained by Peter Snowden, has been allotted 62kg and a Handicapper Rating (HR) of 94. Chartreux and Keep Control (HR74) have both been allotted 56kg, Red Colussus (HR72) has 55.5kg while Safety In Numbers (HR68) has 54.5kg.Now this is where it starts to be silly. The

It is time the Australian Racing Board (ARB) and the handicappers settled on some sort of symmetry between the allotted weights and the Handicapper Rating figures.

This Saturday in the 3yo Open 2000m handicap at Caulfield Kidnapped, trained by Peter Snowden, has been allotted 62kg and a Handicapper Rating (HR) of 94. Chartreux and Keep Control (HR74) have both been allotted 56kg, Red Colussus (HR72) has 55.5kg while Safety In Numbers (HR68) has 54.5kg.

Now this is where it starts to be silly. The HR figures suppose 0.5kg = 1 point thus Kidnapped is rated 10kg better than Chartreux and Keep Control therefore both should have been weighted on 52kg. A simple workout also shows there are problems in either the HR figure or the allotted weight for Safety In Numbers. Either way, if Kidnapped runs, they are all poorly handicapped IF the HR ratings are to be trusted and Kidnapped becomes a weights special. What will happen on Saturday, I suspect rather strongly, is that Kidnapped will start in the Rosehill Guineas thus making the Caulfield race just a normal 3yo event and the race will just pass us by.

Just for the record, as of 4.30pm Wednesday, Kidnapped has a HR figure of 97 in the weights for the Rosehill Guineas or 3 points more than in the Caulfield race. Am I to assume the HR figure comes from two sources? I guess a case like this highlights what a load of cobblers the HR figures are or is the handicapper wrong?