'When you see the data it's hard to argue with the outcome'

The BHA's director of racing Ruth Quinn conceded the alterations to the weight-for-age scale announced on Thursday would not be universally popular, but insisted the data collated by the governing body made its case for change watertight.

The BHA handicapping team and racing department compared strike-rates over a six-year period and looked at the differences between each year, month and by distance across a sample of more than 89,000 runners in handicaps, which are regarded the best testing ground, and another 5,000 in weight-for-age races.

Steps were taken to eliminate possible variables that might skew the data, including eliminating from the sample unexposed horses who had run fewer than three times in handicaps and three-year-olds stepping up in trip by more than two furlongs.