Rough Justice? Meet the horse rated 1 after being beaten 323 lengths in six runs

From time to time we see horses running from out of the handicap in low-quality affairs, but seldom have we seen one given an official handicap mark of 1.

That is the rating allotted to the David Thompson-trained No Civil Justice, who suffered his latest defeat when beaten by 58 lengths in a mile Redcar seller on Wednesday.

In his six starts, Thompson's three-year-old has been beaten by an aggregate of 323 lengths and has never started at an SP shorter than 150-1, but has finished ahead of two horses.

Thompson insists the mark is an unfair reflection on the horse's performances, saying: "I've never seen anything like this before, it's quite unbelievable.

"He's been running into good horses trained by Sir Michael Stoute and David Simcock so surely doesn't deserve a mark that low, even considering how far he's been beaten – he's defeated two horses before!

"It's not fair on the owners who want to get a horse handicapped. If it was up to me, the minimum rating for a horse would be in the 30s."

A son of Milk It Mick, who won the Dewhurst Stakes for Jamie Osborne in 2003, No Civil Justice could be switched to hurdling in due course, with Thompson saying: "We're going to have to give him a try over hurdles. He's never schooled over them but he's a big horse so we'll see how he gets on."

Thompson also trained No Civil Justice's half-sister Come On Lulu for the same owner Anna Kelly. The mare last raced in May 2017 and reached a peak of rating of 43 on the Flat and 84 over hurdles.

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