Week 11 All Weather Championship Finals



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Week 12 Breeders Cup Extended to 14 Races After last season I have put in a 2yo Juvenile Turf mile race as Open so trainers who don't train on dirt can have a chance with turf



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Week 13 G1handicaps




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RUN DOWN Last Season Schedule Total Races = 398

Group Races = 159
Listed Races = 40
Handicaps = 146
Maidens = 53


THIS SEASON Total Races = 415 Extra 17 races

Group Races = 157 -2 from last season
Listed Races = 33 -7 From Last Season
Handicaps = 171 + 25 more than last Season
Maidens = 54 +1 more than Last Season *there are 2 Maiden Handicap which have been counted into the Handicaps not in Maiden Races.

This is not the finished schedule as things might alter races during weeks may be reduced we have until January 1oth to iron things out after that i will put it all together for jamie and leon to finalise and put up on Tom.
Gray

Great Job Gray very much appreciated

Thanks - Lot of hard work done.

Look forward to targeting a few handicaps next season.

Good job on the schedule, something for everyone.

Gray in week 12 the name of the race is the breeders cup turf sprint but it says it's a dirt race, can u tell us is it a dirt race or a grass race, thanks. If its a dirt race then I might breed some dirt 2yo sprinters, well there's a race at Churchill downs to.

Your on about race 15 yes it says Turf in its name but it's actually run on the Dirt So Its DIRT

I'm glad its dirt it gives dirt 2 year old sprinters two races to aim for, back to the breeding barn for me.

Having maidens on the AW is not a good idea. Its best to have them on galloping turf tracks, then hopefully the form is more accurate.

As last season Im wondering why the Kentucky Derby is in the wrong week? It should be earlier in the season, as should the other triple crown races?

There are still way too many group races. The way the schedule is now the top trainers can run all their horses every single week, whereas those with horses not up to Group races can run less than half their stable unless they are prepared to run their handicappers in Group races with very little chance of placing, let alone winning. Im surprised at this. It seems the only people commenting are the top trainers and they seem to get all their requests. Bit cliquey. Follis said he struggled to enter his horses every week yet nothing has been done to improve this? There were many trainers in the same boat last season and will be next even with the extra handicap or two each week.

Does the schedule need the Free Handicap when it already has the Greenham and Craven? Two is already two many trials, so dont see why there is a need for a third?

Still a lot of clashes as well.

Do really like the AW series, thats a great idea and well implemented.

The Maidens can be switched Matt that is not a problem I think week 4 for the Kentucky Derby would cause problems with the York Meeting which as 3 10f races already Matt that why its in week 5

Has with cutting back on group races I looked really had to cut the group races but I couldn't see which ones to cut without cutting trial races etc if you or someone else could say which group races are not needed then we could have a discussion about them Matt I found it easier cutting listed races.

I put in the free handicap because its a Handicap and gives trainers who's 3yo might not be group class a handicap to run in and we could always make it a 3+ race if wanted.

There are less 0-80 handicaps and more 0-90 races this will help placing and running horse's for smaller trainers matt which includes me

Thank you for your positive views on the AW Series at least I got 1 thing right

Gray

The Kentucky Derby should be in week 3, the same as the Newmarket Guineas. Then the Preakness the same as the English Derby and Belmont in Royal Ascot week. Or Preakness in week 4 and the Belmont in week 5.

The Free Handicap is a listed handicap so is not really a race for trainers that dont have Group horses. If you want to keep it scrap the Craven or Greenham.

I shared the view that the really low band races were attracting small fields, but is this really a problem? Some trainers need those races for a win. A lot of trainers dropped out last season as imo and as expressed by themselves they got bored of not being able to win any races. The schedule is elitist, which is something you said you never wanted to happen Gray. In some weeks you have TWO or more G1's over the same distance for the same age of horses. Breeders Cup? Yet there are hardly any handicaps in the same week.

There is now a G1 2yo race at Longchamp? There are plenty of G1 races for 2yo's over 6f+. There should not be a G1 5f 2yo race, unless you want to make up a lot of handicaps for the trainers struggling to enter their horses.

Do you have the numbers for how many handicaps there are at each distance for each age group and also the same for listed and Group1's, Group2's and Group3's.

I just see the schedule being built for top trainers and the lesser trainers wont speak up. They will, some already have, just give up.

Welcome back Matt Happy Christmas to you and your family

Its important that all trainers have a say before next season really important to be honest

we don't want to get fall out during next season when its too late to change things
like we had this season important things get ironed out before its loaded into tom

anyway Happy New Year everyone

& keep up the good work Gray Its Much Appreciated

Well please look at how many lowly rated horses were in Group races because they had no other option. Some top trainers seem to expect that their horses should run every week, whereas lowly trainers might not have a race to aim at for 2-3 weeks even with a balanced stable. If thats how you want the league to be then ok. Its as far removed from balanced and fair as you could be. Well unless you made every race a Group race.

Put another way; If you were a new trainer and entered a balanced team of 20, yet had to enter your horses in Group races most weeks, even though they were way off that standard, would you carry on? Would you come back next season? Would you just think this way the norm and how every season is run? I dont think many would complete their first season or come back for the next one.

A lot dont read the forum like we do, and how many trainers out of those that entered have contributed to this discussion? And the one low grade trainer who did seems to have been ignored. So why would others bother?

That happened to me in 2008 i tried the lge for 1st time and my horses were trounced and gave up after 2 weeks
as there was no point

i do think things have come on since those days but agree things can always be better

2008 was before my time but I seriously dont think we are far off from what you described. We should be looking to cut 20-40 Group races and replacing them with handicaps. If all your stable is rated above 110 does that mean you should be able to enter them every week? Have I missed that rule? Or should it be that some weeks you might only be able to enter between 10-15 instead of the full 20?


I hope your xmas was good as well Paul. Mine has been great thanks.