Trainer Peter Moody has expressed his dissatisfaction with the Victorian ratings-based handicapping system

Peter Moody has expressed his dissatisfaction with the ratings-based handicapping system that currently exists in Victoria.

The top trainer believes that the present system means that average performing horses suffer the most.

It has been voiced from a variety of trainers in the past that they have had to run their horses in unsuitable races in order to reduce their handicap rating or avoid harsh penalties.

Moody has now joined the protest.

He feels that while it is too easy for horses to go up in the ratings, it is much too difficult for those horses to come down in ratings when they lose their form.

“It’s a lot like the system in Asia, too, where horses have a good trot then ‘disappear’ for two years (before winning again),” Moody said.

“They go up in the ratings pretty quickly but don’t come down quickly enough.”

Moody believes that a system that put less weight on winter form would solve the problem.

Racing Victoria chief steward Terry Bailey did not agree that there was a problem with the rating system in place, and has not witnessed trainers running horses in races they couldn’t win in order to be given a lower rating.

“Obviously a trainer can run a horse in a race it can’t win, but as long as they’re fit and trying, then that’s all we can ask,” Mr Bailey said.