Graded Races

[Danzig]

just saw the article on bloodhorse, and once again oaklawns arkansas derby gets the shaft.

the Rebel stakes upgraded to a gr 2, the southwest to a 3.

but the arkansas derby, with its million dollar purse, still a grade 2. how does that make sense? kept at the same level as the rebel. how can the rebel and arkansas be considered equal??

[whodey17]

the graded race system is a joke. there are way too many graded races out there.

[Danzig]

agreed.
but how do you move up the southwest and rebel...and leave the ark where it is? makes no sense.

[Bobby Fischer]

I don't know that the Arkansas is a natural grade 1.

[MaTH716]

I do not think that it matters, as long as the purse is a million dollars they will continue to draw contenders. Just like it was mentioned in the BC thread, it only matters if you own the horse. If they left the Rebel as a G3 would you still be as upset?

[SniperSB23]

Originally Posted by Cardus

No three-year-old race before the Kentucky Derby should have Grade I status.

That makes more sense to me than anything.

[_ed_]

Originally Posted by Cardus

No three-year-old race before the Kentucky Derby should have Grade I status.

I agree with this.

[SniperSB23]

Originally Posted by Danzig

agreed.
but how do you move up the southwest and rebel...and leave the ark where it is? makes no sense.

The Rebel and the Arkansas Derby always have the same horses don't they?

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by SniperSB23

The Rebel and the Arkansas Derby always have the same horses don't they?

i don't think so. seems every year horses ship in for the ark derby. but it did help the arkansas to have a graded prep at oaklawn. it's a really good series of races for three year olds, so at least it's possible to get graded earnings in more than one arky race.

as to whether the arkansas deserves to be a grade one, i just would argue the point that it shouldn't be the same level as the rebel.

[SniperSB23]

Originally Posted by Danzig

i don't think so. seems every year horses ship in for the ark derby. but it did help the arkansas to have a graded prep at oaklawn. it's a really good series of races for three year olds, so at least it's possible to get graded earnings in more than one arky race.

as to whether the arkansas deserves to be a grade one, i just would argue the point that it shouldn't be the same level as the rebel.

It just all doesn't work, the Derby field is split among 5+ preps, how can they all be G1s? Really how can any of them be G1 if the horses are split among five races? So let's call them all G2. Now the March preps for them have to be a lower grade so they have to be G3. That in turn would mean the February preps have to go down to ungraded which would mean they would have no relevance on graded stakes earnings and no one would run in them. So now we've ruined the whole Triple Crown prep season and given the trainers their excuse to wait until March to race just cause we can't have the Rebel and Arkansas have the same grade even though they have roughly the same field. Grading the Southwest was a good move, it should be relevant in getting into the Derby starting gate. Keep the Arkansas G2 and consider downgrading some (or all) of the G1 preps.