The British Horse Racing Authority have announced this week they are looking into capping trainers at four runners in the major handicap horse races, which will include the Aintree Grand National.
BHA Has Written To Stakeholders Proposing Limiting Stables To FOUR Runners in Big Handicaps
A rule change could be coming as the British Horse Racing Authority is discussing the idea of limiting yards to a maximum of four runners in the big handicaps. Both for horse racing on the flat and over the jumps.
It’s understood the BHA have written to their stakeholders to ask for views and guidance on this, which would cap each trainer at four runners for any individual handicaps at Class 1 or Class 2 level.
This proposal would only apply to trainers and not owners, plus it also wouldn’t be relevant to the weight-for-ages handicap races in fear they might become diluted and uncompetitive.
The Grand National at Aintree Would Be One Of The Races Impacted
It was announced earlier in 2023 that the Aintree Grand National runners would be reduced from 40 down to 34 for safety reasons. With these changes coming into play for the 2024 running on Saturday 13th April.
But, even though this four trainer capping is only at the discussion stage it could also easily be in place for the 2024 Grand National if the BHA and their stakeholders agree on the change.
The 2023 Grand National, which was won by the Lucinda Russell-trained Corach Rambler, had 39 runners and of those entries five (each) were trained by Irish handlers Gordon Elliott and Willie Mullins. Meaning between the pair they had 26% of the 2023 Grand National runners.
While the year before, in 2022, Elliott had seven runners in the Grand National.
On the flat, trainers like David O’Meara, who often has a stack of runners in the top handicaps at the big festivals like Glorious Goodwood, would be another yard impacted by the changes and keeping a close eye on things.
Elliott Had 70% Of The Runners In 2023 Troytown Chase
This topic came to the surface again in November with Gordon Elliott (again) having a massive 14 of the 20 runners in the Troytown Chase at Navan (watch below).
Of those 14 entries, eight were owned by Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary and his Gigginstown House Stud and three by the Bective Stud.
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