Are handicap and stakes the same as flat or national hunt in horse racing terms? November 30th, 2008
If I were making selections for horse racing and I am asked for handicap or stakes would this mean the same as asking for flat or national hunt in horse racing terms?
Stakes is short for sweepstakes where, traditionally I guess, all the prize money was put up by the participants. Stakes races are generally non handicaps although the name is sometimes preserved in the title of the race even where that race is a handicap e.g. Wokingham Stakes. The word stakes is not used in NH racing - at least I cannot think of an example - and is substituted by the word hurdle or chase. A handicap is as described by the previous contributor.
Andymcj78 (Atheist)
November 24th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
No. Handicaps can be either flat or jumps races. A Handicap race is one where all of the horses carry different weights depending on their past form the idea being that they should have a reasonably equal chance of winning. Some horses with very poor form however sometimes are "out of the handicap" meaning that the weight they carry is more than they should do based on their previous performance. Stakes is just a name for a race either on the flat or over the jumps and they can sometimes be handicaps but stake is also the name used for the amount of money you bet on a horse.
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Eddie D
November 24th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Stakes is short for sweepstakes where, traditionally I guess, all the prize money was put up by the participants. Stakes races are generally non handicaps although the name is sometimes preserved in the title of the race even where that race is a handicap e.g. Wokingham Stakes. The word stakes is not used in NH racing - at least I cannot think of an example - and is substituted by the word hurdle or chase. A handicap is as described by the previous contributor.
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qaz7070
November 25th, 2008 at 12:59 am
better quality runners in stakes races
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