Smartform weight carried question

Question

Hello,

Looking at your Smartform database field definitions, I'm trying to clear a possible slight ambiguity (or maybe something I just don't understand...):

Is the total weight carried by the horse represented by:

total weight carried = weight_pounds + penalty_weight (and over_weight is just a useful indicator)

or,

total weight carried = wight_pounds + penalty_weight + over_weight

I suspect it's the former case but could you just clarify this for me?

Thanks,

-Dave

Answer 1

Hi - overweight should be the latter.  Since overweight is down to the jockey not being able to meet the weight required.  This is the same (in terms of adding weight rather than subtracting it) as an apprentice allowance or jockey claim.

So total weight carried should be:

weight_pounds + penalty_weight + over_weight - jockey_claim

When a horse is "out of the handicap", that is an indicator only.  eg. the horse should be carrying a weight of 9 stone according to its official rating, but the minimum weight in a race is 10 stone, it is said to be "14 lbs out of the handicap".

Comments

Ok, so just to be clear, 'overweight' is weight added to make up for an underweight jockey?

In the example you give, would the overweight value=14 lbs to make up the difference?

Cheers,
-Dave

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Hi - no, overweight is the amount over the allotted handicap weight that the jockey has carried because he / she cannot make the required weight.  

"Out of the handicap" is totally different.  That is where a horse carries more weight than it should due to its handicap mark being lower than the lowest weight in a race.

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Ah, ok - got it, thanks.