What is Weight-for-Age?

Weight-for-Age (WFA) is a weight allowance given to younger horses, usually three-year-olds, to compensate for their lack of physical maturity and allow them to compete with older, mature horses on equal terms, at least in theory. The so-called Weight-for-Age Scale was first formalised by Admiral Henry John Rous, Jockey Club Steward, in the mid-nineteenth century and, although it has been revised several times over the years, the underlying principle remains the same. The modern Weight-for-Age Scale is a table that lays down, fortnight by fortnight, how much weight horses of different ages should receive from their elders, over different distances, until they reach maturity at the age of four years. The weight allowance decreases, in linear fashion, as the year progresses, and is based on the development of the theoretical ‘average’ horse.