For those of you who are new to racing I thought I would explain how the process works prior to a horse actually racing.
Firstly the Trainer looks for a race that will suit the horse and then NOMINATES the horse for this race. Nominations always close at 11.00am on the date specified, in some instances nominations are extended and this allows other horses to be nominated as well for the same race. On some occasions horses are nominated in two races at the same race meeting or at different meetings but on the same day. This is done so that the trainer can choose which race will give his horse the best opportunity in the race to perform well. Nominations are always shown in alphabetical order and the number shown at nomination time is not necessarily the number your horse will use when he is running.
The day after nominations the horses are WEIGHTED which means each horse is given a weight that they are to carry in the race. The weights usually depend on previous performances and the standard of horses in the race. Highest weighted horses move to the top and the lowest to the bottom of number order.
The next day by 9.00am all horses must ACCEPT this means that the trainer accepts that his horse will run in the nominated race and will also nominate a jockey to ride the horse. After all acceptances are received Racing NSW does a barrier draw. The barrier is allocated to the horse and this is the barrier from which he will run. For example, a horse can be No. 4 but be racing from barrier 8. The horse number is shown at the beginning and the barrier number is shown in brackets after the horse’s name.
If you wish to see what other horses have been nominated or accepted it is just a matter of going to www.racingnsw.com.au and going to the right hand side of the page. Here you will see a number of headings including “nominations” and “acceptances”. Under each heading are the race meetings, just click on the race meeting for our horse, i.e. in this instance Goulburn, and double click it will bring up the race and all other races at that meeting. After acceptance time it will also show another link to “form” if you wish to have a look at the opposition. You can print off the acceptances by going to the top of the page where it says Portrait or Landscape.
Hope this helps those of you who are new to racing. It sounds complicated when writing it down but you will be surprised how good and involved you become once you know how to operate the system.