AGRA Rankings Fail To Inform

Are the national ratings useful, or even true of ability? Figures to the end of November are just out and that order will be pretty close to the final 2014 count.

They allocate points from first to eighth for all races – supervising Group racing is AGRA's main purpose in life – but are otherwise unrestricted or unqualified.

Consequently, a winner and a maiden final winner get the same credit, just so long as they are Group races, meaning they pay a certain minimum amount of prize money.  Running last in the Maiden series still gains the dog a point. Other fields vary wildly in standards because the Group classifications are not earned but bought by the club responsible for allocating the cash.

They are also limited to what happens in a single calendar year, so performances for dogs which straddle two different years may not be represented accurately. Luck will also play a part, as when a prominent dog is off the scene with injury for a short while and misses a big race or two. Even more luck is needed in drawing a suitable box in each Group race. A string of 1s and 2s may well distort outcomes just as much as a succession of middle boxes.

Another measure – that of prize money – is equally problematical over time as inflation, changed priorities by clubs and the rise and fall of champion dogs all influence the figures. Being on top does not necessarily mean best.

Back to the actual ; please consider these oddities.

While Sweet It Is is fair enough in the #1 spot, what about Dyna Willow as the 9th best dog in the country? It did have a short winning patch earlier in the year, but against moderate opposition and in times which were just fair. It has done little since.

Queenslander Are Ate, a fair but not always consistent performer and not really top grade, gets the 20th place while the brilliant multi-winner Zipping Willow wallows in 53rd spot. Even sillier is that Zipping Willow shares that ranking with Gradence, an honest and consistent dog which runs a lot of placings and not much else.

Going down further, Queens Esther and Space Star share the 74th spot. The former has a few handy sprint wins at , but has no great depth to its career. On the other hand, Space Star has busted two track records and done well against top level stayers at different times – including running hot times at Wentworth Park.

In other words, AGRA rankings are a misleading measure of the quality of the dogs. Something better is needed.

Neil Brown, and the rest of the AGRA group have the right idea but need go no further than the gallops to see how better to do this job. Thoroughbred's formal rankings are based on the quality, not the quantity, of performances. Here is their official guide.

“The ratings are compiled under the auspices of The International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA) by racing officials & handicappers representing the five continents who compile the ranking order by agreeing on the rating for each horse. The ratings are based on the performance of horses in elite races held during the designated period which takes in account the quality of opposition and achievements of each horse. Throughout the year the Longines Rankings are published at regular intervals and the consolidated annual rankings are released in January. The annual rankings denote the champions in the various distance categories for example sprint or mile, surface either turf or dirt/artificial and also the fillies & mares category”.

That may or may not be more detail than greyhounds need but the principle is indisputable. You want to know which one was the best, not just the one that was in the right place at the right time.

The other benefit of the thoroughbred-style rankings is that whatever position the horse earns will stay with it forever, making is easier to compare one generation with another. It also influences major clubs in organising fields for their peak events.

These sorts of guidelines would also help normalise AGRA's breeding rankings – probably even more so than the racing stats. Restricting a sire or dam's position to a single year makes little sense when performances of their progeny stretch over several years. In today's annualised system a flash in the pan can come out on top in any one year.

As an aside, while Sweet It Is may well deserve top spot on any measure (primarily because it has run near record times at two tracks – Wentworth Park and ), the uncertainty of racing is well illustrated by the fact that its supporters will never end up making a profit. As regularly advised here, its hit rate and the way it races mean that it is never better than an even money chance. Taking odds-on is a sure way to the poorhouse, as backers found out last Saturday in the at Wentworth Park. It started at $1.50 in NSW and $1.30 in Victoria and ran 6th. That was not bad luck, just bad odds.

No Stopping Victorian Stewards

At the Laurels heats at Sandown, 7 December.

Race 3

“Ousai Bale crossed to the rail approaching the first turn, checking Reiko Bale, Photon Jewel, Footluce Diva, Oakvale Flyer and Fratelli Fresh”.

What a huge effort – one dog checking five others! The problem is it never happened. Ousai Bale did go across to the rail but never touched these other dogs, which were well clear of it from the start.

Race 8

“Call Me Hank crossed to the rail soon after the start, checking Cool Mikado”.

That never happened either. Never touched.

Why do they bother?

Questions could also be asked of Racing Radio (NSW version). It failed to broadcast some or all of that Sandown Laurels meeting on Sunday afternoon. There appeared to be time available as they waffled on about other stuff and ran plenty of ads. The trots – a declining code and ranking well behind greyhounds – got plenty of coverage, though. On top of that, the station persists with AM frequencies in some areas, which is deadly in times of lightning and thunderstorm conditions, or at night.

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Anonymous57
Anonymous57
9 years ago

Bruce how about you just sack using their National ratings and produce your own, I’m not sure if there should be 4 distance catagories but at least you could look at a list next to each dog the home state and you could quickly the ranking nationally and for the each State , do you do it on a rolling 12 months basis or have a racing season
ARG should just go ahead an implement something.

Anonymous57
Anonymous57
9 years ago

Bruce how about you just sack using their National ratings and produce your own, I’m not sure if there should be 4 distance catagories but at least you could look at a list next to each dog the home state and you could quickly see the ranking nationally and for the each State , do you do it on a rolling 12 months basis or have a racing season

ARG should just go ahead an implement something.