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Weight doesn't mean nothing. It has a mass, and gravity doesn't cease to exist once the starting gates open. Weight matters. It is ludicrous of every author who suggests it does not.
HOW MUCH it matters, is the important question, not whether it matters. Traditionally, here in Aus as well as elsewhere, it's effect has been over-emphasised. Certainly these days, as horses are doubtless stronger than they once were, weight matters less than it once did. Horses are able to withstand extra weight better than they could, by being stronger than they once were.
So, the impact of weight has lessened. 1kg extra weight on a horse's back has less impact now than it did 100 years ago.
My own research leads me to believe 1kg of extra weight = roughly 0.35 lengths slowing over the course of a race, or about 90 cm, or 3 feet in the outdated system.
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