The handicap System for 2023 has had some minor adjustments from the 2022 season. Firstly we have lowered the age that a horse will start to get relief on it’s handicap, by only receiving 75% of the penalty in races, from 10 years old to 8 years old. We hope that this will help to keep older horses more competitive and racing for longer. The 10 point for age lift will remain in place for horses aged 10 and over at the end of each season.

The lift (handicap drop) matrix has also been slightly changed, horses will receive double points off for runs when they are above a handicap mark of 60.This is to help keep the system as fluid as possible for horses and once again to help them remain competitive within the system

New for 2023 is the introduction of the inexperienced driver races. These will be penalty free races with a maximum purse of £150 designed to give inexperienced or out of practice drivers (less than 15 drives in the past 3 seasons and less than 20 wins lifetime) a chance to practice driving in a race environment without as much pressure. As always we will continue to review the handicap system after the close of the 2023 season and will welcome any feedback from licence holders at this stage.

Handicap System 2023