Rules and Guidelines - Preferential Judging System

The preferential judging system works as follows-

The three judges must stand separately and judge with no consultation amongst themselves. At the conclusion of the workouts the three judges mark their first, second and third choices on a sheet of paper and hand it to a steward. The steward then tallies the preferences, giving three points for a first preference, two points for a second and one point for a third. The horse with the highest number of points is the winner, and runner-up the next highest. The only exception to this rule is when any one horse is given a first preference by any two judges. That horse is automatically the winner on six points, even if another horse has (for example) one first preference (three points) and two second preferences (two points x two) totalling seven points. This comes about as it should always be a majority rules situation i.e. two judges pick the same horse- it is automatically the winner.

If there should be a tie of points for any placing-winner, runner-up or third (which should be chosen in case of a disqualification)- the three judges may come together to discuss only those horses who are tied to decide the winner. The Chief Steward should be in attendance at all times during this discussion.

The preferences must be signed by each judge and posted in a prominent place for perusal by the competitors as soon as possible after the event.