Yesterday’s upgrade of the Makybe Diva Stakes to Group 1 status is long due on two fronts – promotion of staying races and promotion of weight-for-age racing.
Formerly known as the Craiglea Stakes, the Australian Pattern Committee’s decision to increase the prize money of the race to $350,000 qualified the race for Group 1 status. It was previously run as a Group 2 race with a $300,000 purse.
Run at Flemington over 1600m, the race is a traditional lead up to the spring majors and is usually won by a big player in the spring majors. Although it is not a staying race, its position at the start if the season means the field is littered with stayers running first or second up in preparation for the spring.
It is a welcome change from the Pattern Committee whose three race upgrades prior were the Moir Stakes (1200m), Canterbury Stakes (1300m) and Memsie Stakes (1400m) – all races targeted by sprinters.
Weight-for-age racing is still underrated in Australia which is best illustrated by the poor distribution of prize money.
The country’s premier weight-for-age race is the Cox Plate which offers a $3million purse.
It is dwarfed by the Melbourne Cup ($6.2million) and too close in prize money to the Caulfield Cup which offers $2.5million. Both cups are run under handicap conditions.
The argument can be made that it is harder to win a handicap race carrying a big weight than it is to win a weight-for-age race, and its true. But too often, handicap races are won by those carrying light weights.
The thing that makes weight-for-age racing so good is that it is won by the fastest horse. It’s a notion that is lost in handicap races depending on the mood of the handicapper.
Australia is the only major racing jurisdiction to place such a strong emphasis on handicap racing via the Melbourne Cup, Caulfield Cup and Doncaster Mile. The latter is too often won by a mediocre horse carrying no weight, yet the race offers $2million.
Three year old Sacred Falls won the 2013 Doncaster Handicap but was no match when he met the best of his age group at equal weights earlier in the season. He carried a feather weight in the Doncaster and there were other horses much more deserving of the $2million purse.
Under weight-for-age conditions, he would have been beaten by both the second and third place getters, Pierro and Norzita respectively.
Of course, handicap racing exists to give all horses in the field an equal chance of winning. This is always exploited around Melbourne Cup time when trainers manipulate the schedules of their horses to ensure light weight in big races.
It’s why winning the Melbourne Cup with any more than 56kg is near impossible.
Looking around the world, no one else cares for handicap racing.
All the big Group 1 races across the Royal Ascot meeting are run under weight-for-age conditions.
The four big races on Hong Kong International Day are run under weight-for-age conditions.
The world’s richest race, the Dubai World Cup, is run under weight-for-age conditions.
The world’s most prestigious race, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, is run under weight-for-age conditions.
While the Melbourne Cup will never become a weight-for-age race, greater emphasis needs to be placed on the Cox Plate in terms of prize money. It is very rarely targeted by international horses who target the Breeders Cup Turf which is run around the same time, instead.
The Breeders Cup Turf offers USD $3million so it’s essentially worth the same as the Cox Plate.
Giving the Makybe Diva Stakes a small cash boost is a good start but it’s only the beginning.
Other weight-for-age Cox Plate lead up races like the Underwood Stakes (1800m) and Caulfield Stakes (2000m) could use a prize money injection.
The Caulfield Stakes gathered a field of just. six runners last year.
The Makybe Diva Stakes has always been one of the form races leading into the spring majors so its upgrade is somewhat irrelevant.
Most keen analysts had already pegged it as a better race than Group 1’s like the Rupert Clarke Stakes or The Metropolitan Handicap.
Now an official Group 1, its upgrade should prompt feelings of relief rather than jubilation. It shows that the Pattern Committee still values quality races which is a welcome change from last year’s sprinter focused upgrades.
Weight-for-age explained
“Weight-for-age” (often shorted to WFA) is a weight carrying condition which applies to horse races.
Other weight conditions may be handicap conditions or set weight conditions.
Under weight-for-age conditions, horses carry a weight in accordance to their age and gender. Horses are not considered to be fully grown until they reach the age of five, at which point they carry the biggest weight on the scale for their gender.
Because the Australian racing season is drawn out over an entire year, the weight-for-age scale causes an increase in weight carried as horses grow older and stronger throughout the season.
For example, the Cox Plate and BMW are both weight-for-age races.
A three-year-old colt (male) will carry 49.5kg in the Cox Plate because the race is at the beginning of the season.
But that same colt would carry 55.5kg in The BMW because the race is towards the end of the season.
In the six months between the two races, horses undergo a major growth spurt and are therefore deemed to be more physically mature and assigned a bigger weight.
Like humans, males (colts, geldings and entires) are considered stronger than females (fillies and mares).
Therefore, fillies and mares carry slightly less weight than male counterparts of the same age.
For example, a fully grown five year old male will carry 59kg in the Cox Plate but a fully grown five year old female will carry 57kg.
At the time of the Cox Plate, four year olds are not considered as developed as five year olds so they will carry slightly less weight.
Weight-for-age scales are tried and tested. There is no openness to interpretation when allocating weights and it is extremely rare that the best horse at the time, does not win.
Have you ever tried your skills in a Racing daily fantasy competition? Put your best picks to the test for one day and see if you can scoop the pot with Draftstars. Looking for great odds on racing and sport? PlayUp is your best bet. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.
Without a Fight completed the rare Caulfield Cup-Melbourne Cup double on Tuesday as star jockey Mark Zahra went back-to-back in the big one after…
The race that stops the nation is upon us again. Every horse in the Melbourne Cup has reasons they can win, and reasons they…
Those who want to have a really big collect on Australia’s greatest race, without risking too much, have to look at the exotic bets.
While most of the attention is on Ciaron Maher and David Eustace's Gold Trip, there's no reason why stablemate Future History cannot upstage him.
Champion jockey Damien Oliver is quietly confident his Melbourne Cup mount Alenquer will be passed fit to give him a farewell ride in the…
Melbourne Cup day is here again, and it’s never anything less than exciting. The Cup itself will of course be full of drama and…
