New handicap system to level horseracing field

The Philippine Racing Commission is set to introduce a new handicapping system which, according to its chairman Florencio Fianza, would level the playing field among horse owners, jockeys, trainers and the betting public.

The new system is primarily aimed to put a stop to the common practice where horses, through their owners, are made to lose consecutive races. They end up being relegated to lower groups, which they can dominate for a certain period of time.

In golf, this is referred to as "sand-bagging" where a player intentionally becomes too good for his handicap.

"Starting this year, nobody will want to lose anymore because there will be no incentive for losing. When I first came in as Philracom chairman, I was wondering why some horse owners would want their horses to lose," said Fianza, a retired police general.

"This practice has to stop. The moment you are locked into this new system, you can no longer lose races or go on vacation and expect to come back and be bracketed in the lower group. Under this system, you stay in your group even if you keep on losing," he said.

The new system will first be applied on all horses starting their careers on April 1. These horses will be made to run in only one maiden race before they fall either on the Juvenile Division for two-year-olds and the Special Division for three-year-olds.

Hopefully and eventually, the entire racing field will be placed under the system, and the old one, Fianza hopes, "will die a natural death."

"So we will not be accused of being too radical and too abrupt in implementing the change we will keep the current system in place for the old-timers. But we will hold regular consultations with horse owners and trainers. May mga takot pa. But eventually the current system will die a natural death," said Fianza.

The Juvenile Division has eight classifications while the Special Division has 12. After two wins, the horses move up in classification, and the losers are left behind. Perennial losers will be made to run in condition races for a chance to move on.

"Under this system, the horses will handicap themselves because everybody would want to win. And no horse will dominate a certain group for a long time because with a second win, you move up to the next," said Fianza.

"In a certain group, a horse can only beat another horse twice. Wala nang babaan ng grupo. If you lose, you stay there. And we hope that this will make everybody strive for a win. This will level the playing field for everybody. Wala nang gusto matalo," he added.

"Under this set-up, a two-year-old will be going up against two-year-olds. Kalaban mo ka-grupo mo. Unlike before, it’s a two-year-old against the rest of the world," said Eddie Jose, a horseowner and one of three Philracom commissioners. — Abac Cordero