'So far, so good' - BHA handicapping chief pleased with Cheltenham score

BHA head of handicapping Dominic Gardiner-Hill believes the changes his team have made worked out "as well as we could have hoped for" at Cheltenham last week.

Irish trainers won seven of the nine handicaps at the festival in 2021, prompting the BHA to tweak the way horses are assessed over jumps.

Twelve months later, British-trained runners won five of the nine handicaps at the meeting with Corach Rambler, Global Citizen, Third Wind, Coole Cody and Chambard, and Gardiner-Hill was glad to see a better spread of success.

"I won't say we went into it with trepidation but I was very interested to see how things would go in the handicaps, and I think they went as well as we could have hoped for," he said.

"To have the handicaps shared five-four was a very pleasing outcome from our perspective.

More details of the handicapping review

"Hats off to the jumps team who have bought into it, as it meant a change to certain aspects of our methodology and mindset. When we did the review we highlighted areas that needed changing, such as the treatment of older, regressive, non-winning horses and the initial marks for novice hurdlers, and doing something different means you have to think about things longer than you would in the past."

Gardiner-Hill stressed the changes made were relatively minor and that reviewing the way handicappers work is an ongoing process.

He added: "Until we crunch the numbers, look at strike-rates, impact values and percentage of rivals beaten, I'm definitely not going to say 'we've cracked it'."

Dominic Gardiner-Hill: 'I'm definitely not going to say 'we've cracked it''Credit: British Horseracing Authority

He also pointed to the lopsided nature of the field sizes between hurdles and fences last week, saying: "Britain had over 70 per cent of the runners in the Ultima, over 62 per cent in the Grand Annual, 80 per cent in the Plate and 55 per cent in the Kim Muir and we won all those.

"Ireland had over 66 per cent of the runners in the Fred Winter, over 65 per cent in the Coral Cup, nearly 70 per cent in the County and over 78 per cent in the Martin Pipe and they won all four."

Global Citizen's trainer Ben Pauling was among those to praise the effect of the handicapping review and Gardiner-Hill said: "The feedback has largely been very positive, trainers have said they've noticed the change in methodology.

"It was never an anti-Irish thing, it was about producing a better product for British racing. There were issues that needed addressing and we've set about addressing them."

State Man was the only winning favourite in the nine handicaps at CheltenhamCredit: Alan Crowhurst (Getty Images)

There was only one successful favourite and one other winner at single-figure odds in the nine handicaps at Cheltenham, where triumphs by horses starting at 50-1, 40-1, 28-1, 25-1 and 22-1 pleased Gardiner-Hill, whose team assessed the performance of outsiders in handicaps.

"Our remit is to give every horse a chance of being competitive," he said. "We looked at those who started at 20-1 and longer and there has been a small increase in the number of outsiders winning this season, and having long-priced winners at the festival highlights the fact we are taking notice and giving them a chance."

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