|
Sometimes I ask myself the same question.
In general, lower jumpers sometimes 'jump up' to the top class when their win streak is better. So they win more, they can often jump against higher horses. When they lose more, they go back to being able to jump against lower horses.
So a horse who has won 6 or 7 jumps in a row at 75 may move up and be able to challenge higher jumping horses. However, if they lose say 5 times in a row against those higher horses they pop back down into the lower tier.
I think jump average has a play in to it as well (like if they are consistently jumping in the same range rather than jumping low 80s, but then hits the next few jumps at mid 70s, then pops back up to 80s) . Since with higher jumping supers/hores who always stay in a top class tend to average the same higher jumps (90s, high 80s) and don't have much if any fluctuation towards 70s, you mostly see it in 70s/low 80s horses.
So in theory -
70s/low-mid 80s can hop 'up' a tier due to good jump streaks or good jump average, and either fall back down because they stop doing as well or remain in the high tier.
High 80s/90s tend to stay second tier due to higher average jump. However, as the case with older horses who still sometimes get jumped, a high 90s can fall down to lower tier when their average jump is in the can and they aren't doing as well.
This is all just personal theory :) Sometimes the system takes a moment to catch up if a horse is just getting a losing streak and still has them in top jumps, just gotta wait for the jumpoffs to come through for it to change.
|