What are horse racing divisions and class's?

Question

Horses race in Classes and Divisions, how are these determined?

Answer 1

In Great Britain there are basically 6 classes of race (called Class 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6!) The better races are the Class 1 or 2 and the worst are the Class 6.

The races are rated by Class according to how much money is on offer. A Class 6 race can only be worth a maximum of about £3,500; a Class 5 a maximum of £5,000, a Class 4 a maximum o £10,000, a Class 3 a maximum of £14,000 and a Class 2 a maximum of £20,000 (figures are not the most up to date and may have altered recently).

Within Class 1 races are the "Pattern Races", that is the Listed Races, Group 3, Group 2 and Group 1 races. Group 1 races are the best races of them all, being the most valuable and most prestigous. There is an international committee that decide which races are permitted to be run as Pattern races. Representatives of all the major racing nations sit on this committee and decide which races should be upgraded or downgraded.

Within the Group 1 races are the "Classics", that is the 5 races framed for top-class 3 year olds: The 2,000 Guineas (for entire colts & fillies); The 1,000 Guineas (for fillies only); The Derby (for entire colts and fillies); The Oaks (for fillies only) and The St Leger (for entire colts and fillies).

Races can be divided if there are too many horses declared at the 48 hour stage before the race. Not all races are permitted to divide, the most common races to divide are maiden races. The divisions are done at random by a computer in order to prevent one division being a lot stronger than the other. If an owner or trainer has more than one horse entered they make sure that they are also divided between the two races. I have known some maidens to divide into 3 separate races.

At the end of the day if you are an owner you want to run your horses in the highest class of race that you can as there is more money on offer.

Answer 2

that depends if you are talking about harness racing and the gallops i no about harness racing in harness racing a horse atrts racing at the age of 2 they are clasified as 2ao for country races and 2mao for metropolitian races when they win in the class they go to say a 2ma1 the same happens when they turn 3 then when they turn 4 they become a c0 m0 c for country and m for metro whenthey when in the country they become a c1 when they win in the country again they become a c2 and so on the same happens with m0


gallops they pretty much do the same thing

Answer 3

check racing post website

Answer 4

think something to do with weight and age.