RACE
CLASSES IN AUSTRALIA
RACE
CLASSES IN AUSTRALIA
Used
to be reasonably easy - after you won a maiden, the lowest
class race you were eligible for was a Class1 - when you
won a Class 1 race you could then only compete in a Class
2 or better - when you won that you moved to Class 3 as
the minimum quality race you were allowed to contest - and
so it went all the way up to Open Class.
Before that system, it was maiden, progressive, graduation,
transition. open and good old Admiral Rouse's weight for
age. Then the administrators, realising they were running
out of horses with seven day a week races put in our current
system so that older, once well performed horses could drop
back in class and keep racing and keep the whole seven day
a week monster keeping on!
It's why you now have once good horses getting thrashed
at Taree et al when they're 9 and 10 years old and should
have been retired three years ago :-)
This
is our assessment list from best to worst. This is not an
"official" list - just how we see things seemingly
work out on an average day in, day out basis across all
States and our "feel" for how things play out.
As in all things racing, we are also likely to be wrong!
WFA
Group races
Open handicaps (Saturday and public holidays)
Open handicaps (Provincial - Sundays)
Welter (Saturdays and public holidays)
Flying (Provincial / Sunday)
Class 6 Saturday
Welter / mares handicap (provincial / Sunday)
Class 6 Provincial
0 - 90 and better
Restricted Handicaps e.g. 1MW, 2MW etc
0 - 80 up to 0- 89
Class 5
0 - 75 up to 0 - 79
Class 4
3YO 1Metro win
0 - 72 up to 0-74
Class 3
0 - 63 up to 0-71
Class 2
3YO Open
0-55 up to 0 - 62
Class 1
3YO Restricted
2YO Quality
Maiden City
2YO open
Maiden Provincial
Maiden Country
