Victorian Racing Classes

Australian Horse Racing Classes (2019-20)

   “ Show me a man who can class horses correctly,
    and I‘ll show you a man who can collect all the money
   he wants – and he only needs a dollar to start ”.
                                                       (Mike Dwyer)

One of the toughest aspects of analysing race form has been understanding the complex class system - until now that is. Our super new class chart below will change all that and will answer your class queries in an instant. It’s an invaluable ready reference tool for the modern punter and it’s yours free and exclusively from  Aussieraces.com.

The different racing authorities in each Australian state have their own class systems. We’ve used the Victorian class system but much of what is shown on the chart also holds true for NSW racing and other states where the class systems are quite similar. The classes of races shown on the chart are the most commonly run classes in Victoria.

How To Use the Aussieraces.com Class Chart
A great feature of Aussieraces.com’s class chart is that it allows you see at a glance how many class levels a horse is going up or down each run. The Group 1 WFA Cox Plate is the strongest race in Australia so we’ve designated it as the highest class i.e. Class (20.0). At the bottom end of the class scale is a Country Maiden (2.5).

The Aussieraces.com class chart clarifies the complex class system for you. For example, if you want to know if a horse going from a Saturday, Metro Open Mares race to a Country Premier Open Handicap is rising or dropping in class - by referring to the chart you can quickly find the answer. As the chart below shows, the Saturday Metro Mares race is rated a Class (14.5) event versus the Country Open Premier race at Class (13.5) - so the former are slightly higher class races 'on average'. It is important to take into consideration the notion of 'on average' - because races of the same class can be of differing strengths due to the standard of the horses entered. For example, if a potential Group horse is lining up in a Maiden race because the stable want to give the galloper a confidence building 'easy kill' - the race should obviously be rated as much stronger than an average Maiden event.

Another feature of the Aussieraces.com class chart is that it shows you the actual difference in classes in lengths - so if a horse is going up in class, you can see how many lengths it will need to improve to be competitive at the higher level. On the chart the differences in classes are shown in both lengths and kilograms.

Each class of race depicted on the Aussieraces.com class chart shows -
(a) The type of race i.e. Saturday, Metro Open Handicap
(b) The normal prize money value of the race. i.e.$125/135k
(c) The  Aussieraces.com Class Level i.e. (16.5).
      Each Aussieraces.com class level equates to 1 length.

Aussieraces.com  Class Chart

Victorian Racing Classes ; 2019
Aussieraces.com Class Level (1)
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20

Kilos Difference (Based on 1 length = 2 kilos)
26	28	30	32	34	36	38	40	42	44	46	48	50	52	54	56	58	60	62	64
	f
Lengths Margin Between Classes
20	19	18	17	16	15	14	13	12	11	10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1
Open Class Group 1 WFA Cox Plate (20.0) Group 1 WFA & Group 1 Caulfield & Melbourne Cups (19.5) Group 1 Hcp & Group 2 WFA (19.0) Group 2 Hcp & Group 3 WFA (18.5) Group 3 Hcp (18.0) Listed Hcp (17.5) Saturday, Metro Open Hcp$125/135k (16.5) Mid Week, Metro Open Hcp$50k (14.5) Country Premier Open Hcp$35k (13.5) Country Open Hcp$23k (12.5) Mares Class* Groups 1 WFA Mares (17.5) Group 1 Mares (17.0) Group 2 Mares (16.5) Group 3 Mares (16.0) Listed Mares (15.5) Saturday, Metro Open Mares$125k (14.5) Mid Week, Metro Open Mares$50k (12.5) (* For Fillies & Mares Benchmark events refer to the specific Benchmark level below and deduct -1 length which equals 2 kilos.) 3 Year Olds* Group 1 (18.0) Group 2 (17.5) Group 3 (17.0) Listed (16.5) Saturday, Open 3yo$125/135k (15.5) Mid Week, Metro Open 3yo$50k (13.5) Country Premier, Open 3yo$35k (12.5) Country Open 3yo$23k (11.5) (For Open 3yo races above and 3yo Benchmark races below refer to the specific class level and to allow for age improvement - Deduct -2 lengths or 4 kilos during the period August 1^st - October 31^st . Deduct -1 ½ lengths or 3 kilos during the period November 1^st - January 31^st . Deduct -1 length or 2 kilos during the period February 1^st - April 30^th . Deduct - ½ length or 1 kilo during the period May 1^st - July 31^st . For 3 yo fillies* races deduct a further - 1 length or 2 kilos). Benchmark 96 Saturday, Metro BM96$125k (15.5) Benchmark 90 Saturday, Metro BM 90$125k (14.0) Mid Week, Metro BM 90$50k (12.5) Benchmark 84 Saturday, Metro BM84$125k (12.5) Mid Week, Metro BM84$50k (11.0) Benchmark 78 Saturday, Metro BM78$125k (11.0) Mid Week, Metro BM78$50k (9.5) Country Premier, BM78$35k(8.5) Country, BM78$23k (7.5) Benchmark 70 Saturday, Metro BM70$125k (9.0) Mid Week, Metro BM70$50k (7.5) Country Premier, BM70$35k (6.5) Country, BM70$23k (5.5) Benchmark 64 Saturday, Metro BM64$125k (7.5) Mid Week, Metro BM64 $50k (6.0) Country Premier, BM64$35k (5.0) Country, BM64 $22k (4.0) Benchmark 58 Country Premier, BM58$35k (4.0) Country, BM58$22k (2.5) Maidens Mid Week Metro, Maiden $50k (5.5) Country Premier Maiden$35k (3.5) Country Maiden$23k (2.5) Please note : This chart is best viewed using Mozilla Firefox. Copyright Aussieraces.com
Lengths Margin Between Classes
20	19	18	17	16	15	14	13	12	11	10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1

The Maths Of The Matter
The Aussieraces.com class chart above is based on a number of premises. Racing authorities tell us that 2 ratings points = 1 kilogram. Therefore a Benchmark 84 race is 3 kilos inferior to a Benchmark 90 event.

In horse racing, 1.5 kilos has traditionally been equated with being equal to 1 length in distance. In modern racing, horses are bigger and stronger, the weight scale much more compressed and weight is not considered to have such an impact. Therefore, for the purposes of our class chart we have used 2 kilos = 1 length in distance. Using this maths, the difference between a BM84 and BM90 race is therefore 6 rating points = 3 kilos = 1 ½ lengths.

We have cross checked many of the classes on the chart above using times. For example, we found that the average time taken for Country Maiden races over 1200 metres on ‘Good’ rated tracks was 1.12.36 whilst the average time taken for Country Benchmark 58 races was 1.12.40 - nearly identical. This reaffirms that these two classes of races are of about the same standard on average. This is depicted on the chart where both are shown as being Aussieraces.com Class (2.5) races.

We also calculated the average time for Saturday, Metro Open Handicaps over 1200 metres as being 1.10.00 - around 2.4 seconds faster than the Country Maiden and Country Benchmark 58 events. Race horses cover around 6 lengths per second so by comparing the average times for the classes we can ascertain that the Saturday, Metro Open Handicap horses are 2.4 x 6 lengths = 14.4 lengths superior on average to the Country Maiden and Benchmark 58 class gallopers. This again closely equates with the lengths differences between the class levels shown on the chart.

Footnote: There are Ratings races and Benchmark races. In Victoria most races are of the latter type. The difference between a Ratings 0-90 race and a Benchmark 90 race is minimal. In the Ratings 0-90 race, only horses with a rating of 90 or below can enter. In a Benchmark 90 event, any horse can enter, but horses rated above 90 will be asked to carry significantly higher weights.

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