What does handicap mean in racing?

In horse racing, a handicap is a race in which each horse is allocated a weight according to its official rating. Once a horse has run three times, it is assigned an official rating, which is a numerical representation of its ability, in the eyes of a team of handicappers at the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), and becomes eligible to run in handicap races. The merit of each subsequent performance is assessed and, as result, an official rating may be revised up or down or stay the same.

Official ratings, a.k.a. handicap marks, determines in which races horses are eligible to compete and, moreover, are intended to give each horse an equal chance of winning, at least in theory. Of course, two-way or even three-way dead-heats do occur, but it would be fair to say that handicapping horses is, at best, an imprecise science. Most handicap races are restricted to horses with ratings in a certain range, but within each range racing is competitive and, as such, an attractive betting medium for punters.

In Britain, 60% of all races, Flat or National Hunt, are handicap races and most horses spend most of their careers running in such races. On the Flat, notable handicaps included the Lincoln Handicap at Doncaster, the Wokingham Handicap at Royal Ascot and the Ebor Handicap at York, while ‘over the sticks’, the Greatwood Hurdle at Cheltenham, Grand National at Aintree and Bet365 Gold Cup at Sandown Park are similarly high-profile handicap contests.