I\'ve said this before but it really angers me everytime so I will say it again even though I have no skin in the game here
The fact that Tapiture, Conquest Titan and Strong Mandate are spotting 4 pds to the rest of the field in the Ark Derby is ridiculous
Those 4 pds are worth alot at that distance and the lengths that weight is worth could well determine who gets into the Derby and who doesn\'t which is wrong
No good
Churchill went to great lengths to determine the current point system to reward recency of form which I think was a great move overall, it needs to take the next step to fix the weight allowances in these final preps that determine most of the field
It\'s not even clear to me what the motivation is to have handicap weights. I\'d thought handicapping provides an incentive to on-the-fence connections. They maybe think they compete with better horses, and so they enter - the result being full fields.
But the Derby points are incentive enough. Just look at the Bluegrass - it has an overload field, and will send 14 out the gate - all at 123 pounds.