That is slightly easier said than done. Phil Smith, the BHA handicapper and his colleagues, rely on a number of tools to make their handicap calculations, including video analysis, however he is not about to start combing YouTube in search of grainy black-and-white footage of Arkle’s trio of Cheltenham Gold Cup victories. “I’m going into it with an open mind and if the facts support that rating then I shall say it. It’ll be fascinating to see how it comes out but it’s going to be a difficult task because you need a starting position. In those days Arkle ran against fields of threes and fours, which makes rating races more difficult. It’s going to be purely from the form book and making a judgement call. I’m going to deliberately give the horse as much credit for the ease of his victory as you could conceivably do.”
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