Remington Revisits Reporting of Horse Weights

Remington Park in Oklahoma will offer more statistical data to horseplayers and fans when it brings back a program by which horses are weighed before each race and the information disseminated to the public.

The program, called "Right Weigh," begins Aug. 31. Officials said the original system of weighing racehorses was implemented at Remington in 1991 and continued until the latter part of that decade.

"It is simple information to collect and provides handicappers an extra tool while giving interesting information to all fans," said Remington president and general manager Scott Wells, who was behind the process in the 1990s. "It's one of the keys to transparency, it's a very important handicapping factor, and it's something that even novices can relate to."

Every horse at Remington will be weighed on its way to the saddling paddock. The horses will step onto a scale in the pre-race barn before being led to the paddock; the weights will be displayed on the Remington simulcast feed during the post parade for each race.

Track officials said reporting weights for each horse will allow horseplayers to gauge the fitness of an individual horse, especially after a history of each horse's weight has been established for referencing.

While not used in American racing to this point, the weighing of racehorses is commonplace internationally.

"In Asia and in South America, handicappers expect the horse weight information to be made available," Wells said. "It is our hope that other tracks will pick up on this idea and that weight reporting will become standard in American past-performance statistics."