Graded Stakes Committee Makes Changes

[rgustafson]

Originally Posted by cmorioles

Isn't the Turf Sprint pretty much along the same lines, a joke?

There has been such a large proliferation of this type of race in recent years, especially at some major venues (NYRA tracks in particular) that eventually some halfway decent horses find their way into these races. On the other hand, 1 3/4 miles on the dirt......um. not so much.

[blackthroatedwind]

Originally Posted by rgustafson

There has been such a large proliferation of this type of race in recent years, especially at some major venues (NYRA tracks in particular) that eventually some halfway decent horses find their way into these races. On the other hand, 1 3/4 miles on the dirt......um. not so much.

So " halfway decent horses " make up Grade 1 races now?

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by blackthroatedwind

So " halfway decent horses " make up Grade 1 races now?

Only the better Grade 1's

[Cannon Shell]

The graded stakes system is not only fairly useless in its present state but is harmful to the sport of horse racing by creating undeserved credentials for too many horses who use the graded blacktype as a justification to stop racing. A complete revamp of the system is badly needed but will never happen because the TOBA is a farce of an organization. They desperately fight against lasix (despite the fact that taking it away will lead to the devaluation of bloodstock accross the board) yet they adhere to this bloated system and wont drastically cut the number of graded events because they fear the effects it will have on the value of bloodstock (fewer graded blacktype horses, fewer credentialed mares, etc)

Assigning a "grade" to a race without knowing who is running in it is moronic. Assigning some sort of performance rates to stakes races after the season has concluded would not only be more accurate but would lead to increased competition and less ducking for fear of a year end downgrade. Had Zenyatta's connections had to choose between staying in CA and racing in races which would clearly be graded poorly due to the weak competition or racing in better races, well what do you think they might have done? Obviously classic races and certsin designated races could have some sort of special designation but far too many graded races are nothing more than allowance level races but for one or two horses.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

The graded stakes system is not only fairly useless in its present state but is harmful to the sport of horse racing by creating undeserved credentials for too many horses who use the graded blacktype as a justification to stop racing. A complete revamp of the system is badly needed but will never happen because the TOBA is a farce of an organization. They desperately fight against lasix (despite the fact that taking it away will lead to the devaluation of bloodstock accross the board) yet they adhere to this bloated system and wont drastically cut the number of graded events because they fear the effects it will have on the value of bloodstock (fewer graded blacktype horses, fewer credentialed mares, etc)

Assigning a "grade" to a race without knowing who is running in it is moronic. Assigning some sort of performance rates to stakes races after the season has concluded would not only be more accurate but would lead to increased competition and less ducking for fear of a year end downgrade. Had Zenyatta's connections had to choose between staying in CA and racing in races which would clearly be graded poorly due to the weak competition or racing in better races, well what do you think they might have done? Obviously classic races and certsin designated races could have some sort of special designation but far too many graded races are nothing more than allowance level races but for one or two horses.

[King Glorious]

For the most part I agree with Cannon. The one problem I can see with grading races after the fact is you will have many different trainers and tracks claiming their horse or race is the star or marquee and the others are avoiding them. At least by grading them ahead of time, we all know which are supposed to be the biggest races and where the stars are supposed to be.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by King Glorious

For the most part I agree with Cannon. The one problem I can see with grading races after the fact is you will have many different trainers and tracks claiming their horse or race is the star or marquee and the others are avoiding them. At least by grading them ahead of time, we all know which are supposed to be the biggest races and where the stars are supposed to be.

We should already know what races are supposed to be the biggest races and where the "stars" are supposed to be. End of the year evaluation encourages competition as opposed to the system currently in place. Grading of races was supposed to be for breeders to use to determine what black type races were of what class. Of course this was 40 years ago before information was readily available like it is now. The sad thing is that if you bring any of this up to members of the committee or most racetrack execs or breeders they look at you like you are crazy. Again there is zero sentiment to adjust the system because it is putting money in peoples pockts, gives tracks a marketing tool (though I am skeptical about anyone other than serious fans actually being swayed by a grade of a race-I'm sure Parx will not see a big spike in attendance for next years Cottillion) and gives the year end voters something that they can use regardless of how weak certain highly graded races were in a given year.

[rgustafson]

Originally Posted by blackthroatedwind

So " halfway decent horses " make up Grade 1 races now?

Yes, but only if they have been run for four consecutive years and only if they are part of the Breeders Cup program because after all this is racing's "Championship Day(s)."