Timeform handicapper questions refusal to give A Dream To Share a mark

Timeform handicapper Billy Nash has questioned the decision by the Irish authorities to decline to give a rating to A Dream To Share.

That decision was reciprocated by the BHA and has resulted in A Dream To Share being ineligible for the valuable Cesarewitch Handicap, for which he was second favourite.

Nash 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?”

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. He ran twice at the Curragh in March (over seven furlongs and a mile) and 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.

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

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

Connections of the horse made separate appeals to the IHRB 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 on Wednesday: “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.”

Timeform handicapper questions refusal to give A Dream To Share a mark

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