Weight is one of the great racing conundrums. How can a couple of kilos extra on the back of a 600kg thoroughbred influence its performance? The handicapper has a tough task. He has to allocate a rating for every horse that runs. His task is to assign a rating such that all the runners in a handicap will finish in one big dead heat. This has never happened, and probably never will.

Weight is used to handicap a horses chance of winning. The more successful the horse, the more weight it carries and the less successful it should be in future races. At the other end of the scale poorer performed horses are allowed to carry less weight and should thus better their recent finishing positions.....allegedly!

I personally believe that horses rising in weight actually have a better chance than those dropping in weight. I also feel that far too much emphasis is placed on weight differentials by punters. Check the stats next Saturday on any meeting you choose on those rising in weight compared to those dropping and see which ones finish ahead.

Based on some stats I did a while ago, the average winning weight for metro races is 55kg.