Why did A Dream To Share not get a handicap mark after winning his third Flat start?

We explain why A Dream To Share did not get a handicap mark after he won his third start on the Flat at Leopardstown in June.

A Dream To Share, the well-fancied second favourite for the Club Godolphin Cesarewitch Handicap at Newmarket on October 11, has been deemed ineligible to run in the race by the British Horseracing Authority because he does not have an official handicap rating.

The seven-year-old, winner of the Weatherbys Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival in the National Hunt sphere, has had three runs on the Flat in Ireland after running twice at the Curragh in March (over seven furlongs and a mile) before he opened his account on the level at Leopardstown on June 19.

That was in a 1m7f amateur riders’ maiden where he recorded a comfortable one-and-a-half length success at odds of 1/2.

Owned by JP McManus and trained by John & Thomas Kiely, connections would’ve hoped to be allotted a handicap rating after his third run on the Flat, especially in victory, but the IHRB official handicapper does not have to assign a rating if they don’t feel they have enough evidence to come up with a mark based on its form (a policy known as handicapper’s discretion).

Connections of the horse made separate appeals to the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board and the BHA’s handicapping ombudsman over the decision not to allot A Dream To Share a handicap mark, but time has run out for the horse, regarding participation in the Cesarewitch at least, with the BHA confirming that he needed to have a rating by August 19 as per the race conditions.

A BHA spokesperson said: “An appeal was made by connections of A Dream To Share to the BHA’s handicapping ombudsman, David Cleary, which asked him to consider whether the BHA’s handicapper has been correct in refusing to give a British Flat mark to the horse, based on the information available to them.

“In a decision that will be published in full in due course, Mr Cleary found that the approach taken in this case, following the decision of the IHRB handicapper to decline to give the horse a mark, was consistent with the treatment afforded to any other Irish-trained and raced Flat horses. He therefore denied the appeal.

“Regarding the Cesarewitch, the conditions for the race confirm that the rating used for qualification is that published on August 19, prior to publication of the weights today.

“A Dream To Share, therefore, was not qualified and – in the interests of fairness to other competitors and those who have bet on the race – there is nothing within the race conditions that allows for a horse to be added at a later date.”

WATCH: A Dream To Share wins at Leopardstown on June 19

Less-exposed horses get given marks

The decision by the Irish authorities to decline giving a rating to A Dream To Share was a surprise to Timeform’s Irish Flat handicapper Billy Nash, who said: “I can’t see why A Dream To Share has been refused a mark.

“He ran at what one would consider near enough his ‘correct’ trip last time and beat a fairly exposed sort who has since run in a handicap off 87. On that run alone I don’t see why the handicapper couldn’t give him a mark in the mid-90s, and it’s not like he doesn’t have the scope to go a bit higher if he sees fit following that comfortable victory.

“This is a horse that finished in the frame on his first two starts on the Flat and has run and won at a staying trip. How many far less-exposed horses will be allotted a mark on a weekly basis?”

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