VERRY Elleegant would have been guaranteed a place in Sunday’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe under Irish racing rules.

The Melbourne Cup winner, who has won 11 Group 1 races in Australia, was not supplemented for the Arc by connections this week as her revised French rating of 113 would have left her 22nd on the list of intended runners with only the top 20 guaranteed a spot. Instead the mare runs in today’s Prix de Royallieu.

However, under Irish racing rules Very Elleegant’s sex allowance of 3lb would have been taken into account and she would have survived the ballot.

Senior IHRB flat handicapper Garry O’Gorman explained: “In pattern races we add the sex allowance to the rating before publishing the elimination sequence. Horse Racing Ireland make the rules and we are in agreement that the sex allowance should be taken into account, so that you are comparing apples with apples.

“It’s a hot topic at the moment and I expect there will be international discussions on it soon. Britain have the same rule as France in this area, and so did the UAE until [Irish handicapper] Mark Bird had it changed while working there last season.

“In Verry Elleegant’s case, the French handicapper has been unfairly maligned, in my view. His rating is correct. It is the France Galop elimination sequence which is the issue.”

Last Sunday’s Irish Cesarewitch highlighted another example of the differences between the elimination sequences in Irish racing and those elsewhere. The winner Waterville would not have got into the race if it was run in Britain as the three-year-old was not among the top 30 in terms of published weights. But the Irish system gives preference to ratings and Waterville’s mark of 99 saw him ranked above older horses set to carry bigger weights.

O’Gorman said: “Again, this is something that the IHRB and HRI agree on, elimination form handicaps should be based on the rating and not the weights carried. There is a caveat, however, that the protected horses must be in the handicap proper. For example, the three-year-olds Temple Of Artemis and Mostly Cloudy did not get into the Cesarewitch despite strong ratings as they would have been racing from out of the handicap.”