Nominate to accumulate
So you have a horse and you want to race it. Well the first decision you're gonna have to make is whether you want to try it out in Stakes races or Rated racing. Stakes racing has a race schedule based on wins to help further separate peer groups within the two Grades whereas Rated racing relies solely on ratings to separate peers in the four Classes. Wins in either arena do not impact on the other arena. Claiming races are regarded as a subset of Stakes racing.
In both Stakes and Rated racing it is important to understand that the lighter weight a horse carries gives an advantage over higher weighted horses in the same race.
The total prize money for each race is calculated from a combination of the total money accrued through nominations plus any bonus offered by the site owners or outside sponsors. A 15% administration fee is deducted from each nomination prior to this being added to this prize pool. Payouts for each race are based on 50% for the winner, 25% for the second, 15% for the third and 10% for the fourth. Should there be only 3 runners in a race the fourth place prize money is added to the winners purse.
All races require a minimum of 3 runners and are limited to a maximum of 14 entrants. No more than horses from any one stable may take part in the same race and in the case of Early-bird races there must be at least 3 different stables entered into the race for it to go ahead.
Stakes Racing
This is the more complicated of the two but is quite simple once you become accustomed to it. Most Stakes races have restrictive conditions whereby only horses with a minimum and/or maximum of wins may enter. For Stakes purposes Claiming wins are generally ignored with the exception that if a horse has won one or more Claiming races they count as if the horse has won a Maiden (although this 'phantom' Maiden win will not count for weight penalties). Multiple Claiming race wins have absolutely no further effect on Stakes races). In most Stakes races the base weight before allowances/penalties is set at 120lbs. The majority of Stakes races are specific to either Colts or Fillies but a number of races are open to both sexes. For these races Fillies are granted an allowance of 30lbs, thus running of a base weight of 90lbs.
Stakes racing is further sub-divided into 3 grades of racing: Gr1, Ungraded and Gr2). Gr1 is for the upper echelon of G1 horses, Ungraded is for the lower echelon of G1 horses and Gr2 is for all G2 horses. It is recommended that owners do not race a horse above its grade if they wish it to be competitive.
Races for 2yo and 3yo horses are age specific, older horses (4 - 7 years) race against each other. One race category, WFA (weight-for-age) provides an arena for all horse to compete against each other with weight allowances granted to 2yo and 3yo horses.
Nominations into Stakes races generally close 1 hour prior to the scheduled race time. The exceptions to this are Claiming races and 'Early-bird' races where nominations close 24 hours prior to the race. Early-bird races are those that are presented to the bookmaking partner of the site (Ladbrokes) and as these races are potentially able to be bet on there are strict rules in place to prevent any changes being made to horses after the race ispriced up which may affect the result. It is important to note that any Stakes race (bar Claiming races) race may be converted to an 'Early-bird' race without notice. Any conversion of races usually takes place in the small hours of the morning on the actual day of the race.
The options for a horse from the Sales Ring starting out on its racing career are limited to 3 choices in this racing arena:
• Maiden: a race for horses with no Stakes wins of any kind (including Claimers). All horses will automatically race off the same weight (120lbs).
• Novice: a race for horses with between 0 and 2 Stakes wins. Each win will incur a penalty (6lbs).
• Claiming race: a race in which your horse is effectively up for sale. As an unraced horse prospective buyers have very little information to go on (all they can see is how the horse has been classified - Grade, Class and Rating) so this may grant an opportunity for a 'sneaky' win. It should be noted that unraced Class A horses are often snapped up when they are placed in Claimers and that some owners will take a 'punt' on an unraced horse in the hopes of bagging a bargain.
Once your horse is classified as having won a Maiden it is then able to start moving up the ladder in terms of race category. The official list of race categories and restrictions can be found at race categories.
Generally the higher the minimum number of required wins for a race denotes that it is a higher class of race within that Grade. The exceptions to this are Level Weights and WFA races which are the highest level of Stakes races outside of the Challenge races but are open to both horses with realtively few wins and horses that have accumulated a sizeable number of wins.
For new stables there are a couple of extra options - Newbie races are free to enter and are only available to the free horses given when joining or through one of the starting offers; New Stable races are available purely for owners who have been registered for 30 days or under. It is important for new owners to understand that the horses given for free are of the lowest possible standard and most are not able to compete in Stakes racing. For any that are able to compete it is important to understand that wins in the free Newbie races are carried into Stakes racing and will affect the level of race they are able to enter and also may adversely affect weight penalties in those races. It is recommended to keep free horses to either Newbie races or Rated Racing.
A special category of race (Small Stable races) is available for all newer owners who have owned a total of 20 horses or less since registering. Any free horses count toward this total and on purchase of a 21st horse these races will no longer be available.
For horses that have not won for a while there are special 'handicap' races known as Allowance races. In these races each horse is granted weight allowances based on their previous racing performances. For every Stakes race a horse had since its last win (if it has had one) it is given a 1lb allowance. In addition to this allowance the distance the horse has finished behind the winner in its last 5 Stakes races are averaged and an allowance of 2lbs per whole length is granted. It is important to understand this weight calculation before entering any Allowance race and if you are unsure you can see the weight your horse is scheduled to carry by using the 'Calc weight' option on the Race Nomination.
Rated Racing
There are no real decisions to be made for most Rated races. Each horse is only able to enter a Rated race specific to its current Class/Rating. The better a horse does in Rated racing the higher its Rating will climb, conversely if a horse performs poorly its Rating will drop.
There is no rule against 'sandbagging' a horse (running unshod/unfit/wrong distance) in Rated Racing and this is a tactic often employed to manipulate the rating of a horse down to a handy mark before letting it race to its ability. This is often cyclical and maximises the horses' potential earnings. This also means that those trainers not employing this method are at a disadvantage and will most likely soon find a horse uneconomical in Rated Racing.
Each horse in Rated Racing starts at a predefined rating and maximum and minimum limits are set for each Class as follows:
Class A - MAX=150, INITIAL=143, MIN=128
Class B - MAX=135, INITIAL=128, MIN=113
Class C - MAX=120, INITIAL=113, MIN= 98
Class D - MAX=105, INITIAL= 98, MIN= 83