16 May 2019

Harness Racing Australia (HRA) will be providing regular updates as the industry continues its transition to a Ratings Based Handicapping System (RBHS).

Ratings Review Team

HRA has created a Ratings Review Team (RRT), comprising a representative from each State as well as HRA staff.

The RRT has been established to formally review the system on an ongoing basis, as well as managing industry feedback with regards to how the RBHS (not programming) is performing.

In the first instance, industry feedback should be sent to the State Control Body, who will then forward it into the RRT for consideration and response.

The RRT will also circulate responses to common feedback, queries or concerns via www.harness.org.au  as it is anticipated that there may well be similar queries among various industry sectors.

Amendments to the RBHS can only be made by the HRA Executive after considering submissions from the RRT.

HarnessWeb Upgrades

The latest HarnessWeb upgrades were launched overnight, with the ‘National Rating’ tab now active.

Upon searching for a horse, HarnessWeb users will be able to use the ‘National Rating’ tab to see the points earned (or lost) for each start of a horse’s career since the RBHS cutover on 1 May 2019.

New Zealand Imports Transition

HRA wishes to clarify the position of ratings application to New Zealand imports under the RBHS.

Horses imported into Australia (according to the date of their export certificate) will, prior to 1 July (i.e. the transition period) be transitioned to ratings points according to their C or M class per the transition rules.

That being that the C/M class of the horse will be taken on May 1 2019 and assessed in accordance to the transition table with an adjustment for their last five starts (down only). Performances post 1 May 2019 will be subject to ratings points per the ratings matrix.

For horses imported to Australia post 1 July 2019 (according to the date of their export certificate), their entire career performances will be subject to the ratings matrix.

Further updates will be provided in due course.