'The approach has been justified' - Keith Melrose studies the handicap chase weights

It has been fairly obvious this season that the BHA handicappers – and particularly Martin Greenwood, who deals with the staying chasers – are taking a hard line on Irish-trained handicappers. 

Forget all the cries of foul from those who could run their horses off half a stone lower without having to bother with a ferry journey. The BHA approach might be cynical but this season's statistics show that it has been justified.

There have been seven Irish-trained winners of Class 1 and 2 handicap chases in Britain this season, from 63 runners. An 11 per cent strike-rate is intuitively decent in good races. By working out the expected number of winners by runner count (6.2) and SPs (6.8) it becomes hard to argue that Irish runners are being harshly treated in general.