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Originally Posted by Dirk Gently
Maybe I should have just asked how the handicapper does his ratings. From your replies I gather that he rates the horses purely on past performance but not recent(last few weeks maybe?) form? If that is his brief does it really stick to it? A friend of mine invited me to the members at Caulfield once and I found myself not three empty seats from the handicapper, should have asked him then......but then again, I'm sure its Not The Done Thing.
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That's not quite correct about recent form. The handicapper certainly takes that into account. If the horse won or placed it would receive a penalty and if it failed it could even drop down in the weights. The penalites are explained on the Racing Victoria web site at:
http://www.racingvictoria.net.au/
In part, the handicapping policy reads
"In normal circumstances expect the winner to be elevated by 1½ to 2½kg and in terms of the beaten margins the second horse may go up 1kg, the third horse increased by ½kg whilst 4th and 5th horses may remain unchanged. All other runners may incur a weight decrease."