Extended-band races only serve to confuse

Proliferation of those annoying, confusing extended-ratings band races has now added an extra muddle for the rank and file punter with the northern hemisphere three-year-olds qualifying for the grade below their rating.

On the weekend, we had Dreams Maker able to contest a Class Four off an official rating of 70, as well as Confucius Fortune running in Class Four off a 64 rating.

We have to wonder aloud once more why those horses with the five-pound weight-for-age allowance are simply not rated on the actual figure off which they compete?

The truth is that Confucius Fortune is a 59-rated horse. He will give a pound away when he races a four-year-old rated 58. Any other view is nonsense.

Now, with the extended-band races, we have the silliness of calling Dreams Maker a 70 horse when he is competing off 65. And all any of this does is confuse the man in the street, especially the newcomer to racing.

One of the beauties of the ratings system has been its simplicity - an attractive quality by comparison with bamboozling class systems in many jurisdictions, which are a real turn-off for the new fan trying to figure out whether this race is easier or harder than the horse's last assignment.

When racing here is eventually presented to bettors overseas on a wider basis, that simplicity would be a winning quality to fast-tracking interest in this far-flung racing product. If it isn't left behind for the sake of some little handicapping nicety. Not so long ago, for example, those arrows in the official racebook form guide that are used to indicate a rise or drop in class, were correct. Now they are all over the place.