UK Horse Racing's Ratings

Weight

The weight that the horse is carrying in stones and pounds. So, 10-04 means that the weight that the horse has to carry is ten stone and four pounds. This weight figure includes overweight, penalties and allowances.

For those not used to the imperial weights and measures there are fourteen pounds to one stone. There are roughly 2.2 pounds to a kilogram.

The horse's weight is connected to the horse's saddle cloth number. The horse with the highest weight (i.e. the one carrying the most weight) is the one with the lowest number.

The weight as displayed in the summary ratings is the total that the horse is to carry. Any exceptions for apprentices and/or penalties for recent wins are already included in the displayed value.

If there is an allowance, penalty or overweight notice for the horse then this is given to the right of the weight and we can see 'a', 'p' or 'o' followed by the the amount.

The only one to really aware of is the allowance because if that jockey doesn't ride then that allowance is lost so the weight of the horse can change. The penalty can't change as that is attached to the horse and not to the jockey.

The time to look a horse's weight is to compare with its previous run and class. Could the rise/fall and weight help the horse this time? Some people have stated on the forum that laying a horse with the lowest weight is not a good idea and should be avoided.

Quite often it's good to look at a horse with a good trainer and looking good in the ratings with a allowance. Often a trainer will have a good apprentice on his books and will use him to gain that extra level of advantage that the allowance offers. When, for example, Hayley Turner was claiming an allowance she was almost unstoppable and she was one of the greatest claiming jockeys of recent years. In most cases when a good claiming jockey lose their allowance they don't win as many races as they did before but, thankfully for Ms. Turner, this wasn't the case and she's still banging in the winners well after her claim has gone.

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