Too much weight given to Weight....

I think the way most SA punters/analysts analyze racing puts way too much emphasis on weight. This 1/2/3 & half kg worse off or better off for so many lengths beating is really boring. There is more to horse racing than weight.

I think a horses actual racing weight is far more important. When you way up all the options I used to wait until Stan Elley or Laff came on pre race and declared those that had lost weight and those that had gained weight. Personally, I found it was worth the wait and only once I knew the racing weight would I go and wait in the betting queue. Information like that was priceless and worth its weight in gold -D

Apparently 41 lifes cud have been
Saved during the 1989 disaster. The
South Yorkshire Police were told to
Lie at the initial inquiry, in an attempt
To implicate Liverpool supporters.

Sad course of events!

BUT the KOP 'shall never walk alone'

As I was carrying a pound of sugar in the Spar I began to think just how much weight one has to put onto a half-ton horse to really slow it down. A pound is absolutely nothing for me never mind on a horse :.

i promise you mac....let me race you over 2000m and i assure you i will run you "laat jou tong uithang" with my "dikgat".....You have really no idea how much weight, on a horse's back, make a difference even if a horse have big weight with a lightweight jockey,do you know how much dead-weight effects a horse's performance over 1400m+.....?

I think weight change is an extremely important factor when studying the form, can't be ignored and when horses meet regularly across the world it is shown that a couple of pounds here and there can make the difference, all other things being level. Unfortunately, in SA there seems to be so little consistency that it often makes form reading a complete waste of time and effort and thus weight changes can ultimately mean very little. How often do we scratch our heads asking how can that turnaround in form possibly have happened? A much better question for me is how do we identify the reasons for the change in form and turnaround in results... simply look at the form for the Vaal sand tomorrow and there are just so many seemingly unfathomable changes that ultimately, for me anyway, it becomes total guess work because I have no idea how Horse A finished 5 lengths behind Horse B 4 weeks ago, but 2 weeks ago finished 4 lengths infront of it... 2 pound weight change, same jock, same draw, both not had a recent rest etc etc... tis a mythical example so don't go looking for it! Weight as a form guide can only be a useful guide with consistency in form, without the consistency who knows what difference the weight is making.

Weight can stop a train

That is the exact reason why i love punting on Singapore races. They provide you with alll the info you need. Pity that the producer and presenters at Teletrack only show us when it suits them. It really frustrates the hell out of me. Switching over to the Singapore link 2 mintes before the time does not help much.

Weight most certainly does play an important part in assessing a horse's chances.

In my experience it has little impact over 1000m & (sometimes) 1200m where the explosive nature of a sprint race has more to do with fitness on the day and the alertness of the horse from the stalls. From 1400m upwards it becomes more and more relevant. Over 2 miles it is uncannily relevant.

The amazing this is HOW OFTEN horse run to within a lb of where they should. It's just the out of form horses which throw up a cloud which hides how weight is everything. People who ignore weight are just taken care of by the fact that the information is partly embedded in the odds for you.