The Little Book On Watching Horseracing
By Harold Washburn

WEIGHT ASSIGNMENT AND TYPES OF RACES

IN HORSERACING WEIGHTS ARE ASSIGNED TO MAKE ALL HORSES IN THAT RACE HAVE A CHANCE TO WIN. HOW THESE WEIGHTS ARE ASSIGNED IS DIFFERENT IN DIFFERENT TYPES OF RACES.

Read the conditions of the race at top of each race on your program.

There is a scale for guide lines called, SCALE OF WEIGHTS PER AGE.
This scale takes in consideration age, sex, time of year, etc.

TYPES OF RACES

MAIDEN: For horses that have not won a race.
Scale of weights usually used

CLAIMING: Horses enter with a price on their head. They can be bought for that price that as soon as they leave the starting gate they belong to the new owner, If they has filled out a form.
They get less weight if the claiming is lower, the lower the claiming price the less weight they have to carry.

ALLOWANCE
He gets weight assigned by how well they have performed in the past.

STAKE
Weight can be assigned using different systems such as,
- Allowance conditions
- Weight per age (as per Kentucky Derby: in May 3 year-old males going 1 ¼ miles get 126 lbs., females get 121 lbs.).

HANDICAP
A race in which the racing secretary determines the weight to be carried by each horse, according to his assessment of their ability, the better the horse the more weight he would carry to give each horse a chance.

 

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