Posts Tagged ‘graded stakes’
Friday, November 20th, 2009
Gone Astray will be a short-priced favorite to win his third consecutive graded stakes Saturday when he takes on five 3-year-olds in the Grade 3 Discovery Handicap at Aqueduct Saturday, one of four graded races across the country this weekend—all on Saturday.
One of those opponents is Haynesfield, a three-time stakes winner over the Aqueduct inner track last winter who has won one of two restricted New York-bred stakes since returning to the races this fall for trainer Steve Asmussen.
Gone Astray, carrying the Phipps Stable silks, is coming off victories in the Pennsylvania and Ohio Derbies—both Grade 2 events. The late-maturing son of Dixie Union had only won two of his previous 10 starts for trainer Shug McGaughey, He carries top weight of 122 pounds, conceding from four to seven pounds to his rivals.
Post time for the nine-furlong Discovery is 3:44 p.m., and the race will be shown on both HRTV and TVG (all times Eastern).
The Grade 3 Kennedy Road at Woodbine has attracted a field of 10 going six furlongs on the all-weather Polytrack surface. Jungle Wave is the morning-line favorite, but don’t overlook Field Commission, who closed with a rush last out to win the Nearctic Stakes on the Woodbine turf. Earlier this year, the Danny Vella-trained son of Service Stripe earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 105 while winning the Grade 3 Vigil on Woodbine’s Polytrack. Another contender is the very accomplished El Brujo, who’s won six of 13 for trainer Malcom Pierce and won the Grade 3 Perryville on Keeneland’s Polytrack in his last out.
The Kennedy Road will be shown on TVG at 4:23 p.m.
A field of nine graded stakes veteran fillies and mares go postward in Churchill Downs’ Cardinal Handicap Saturday, a Grade 3 going nine furlongs on turf. Acoma is the 121-pound high weight and morning line favorite on the strength of her four previous graded stakes wins and seven of 13 lifetime victories. Saturday is Calvin Borel bobblehead day, though, and Borel is a very live mount for trainer Graham Motion, Leamington. She comes off a dismal effort on a boggy turf course in the Grade 1 Flower Bowl Handicap at Belmont Park but should find Saturday’s firm turf much more to her liking.
The Cardinal can be seen on HRTV at 4:37 p.m.
Saturday’s final graded stakes is the Grade 3 Hollywood Prevue, a prep for the Hollywood Futurity. Bob Baffert, enjoying an exceptional year, has two of the race’s leading contenders in Indian Firewater and Maceo. A field of eight juveniles has been entered for the seven furlong race, which goes at 7:05 p.m. It will be shown on TVG.
Tags: aqueduct, Cardinal Handicap, churchill downs, Discovery Handicap, graded stakes, Hollywood Park, Hollywood Prevue Stakes, HRTV, KBC Horse Supplies, Kennedy Road Stakes, Paulick Report, Ray Paulick, tvg, Weekend Stakes: Where to Watch, woodbine
Posted in Weekend Stakes: Where to Watch | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, November 25th, 2008
By Ray Paulick
Is American racing getting better, or is the American Graded Stakes Committee finding it increasingly difficult to downgrade races as it moves more stakes into Grade 1 and Grade 2 categories? The committee, organized by the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, announced its graded stakes designations on Tuesday, adding six races to grade 1 status while downgrading just one and moving seven to grade II while not downgrading a single race from that category. Ten races were moved up to grade III status, while four were stripped of their grade III ranking, including one race at a track that is being closed.
That’s a net gain of 18 graded races at a time when some tracks are shutting down and others are reducing their number of racing programs.
“I think we have some great racing in this country,” said Peter Willmott, chairman of the TOBA committee, “whether it’s getting better…I don’t know. When we looked at the statistical data on all these races, we find some of the statistics on the Grade 2 and Grade 3 races merit moving them up.”
Willmott referred to a pyramid the committee has used as a model, with 20% of the graded stakes ideally rated Grade 1, 30% Grade 2 and 50% Grade 3. In recent years, however, as more races are designated with higher grades, the pyramid has gotten heavier on the top. Including the new grades for 2009, the percentage of Grade 1 are now at 23.6%; Grade 2, 32.6%; and Grade 3, 43.9%. The committee graded 488 races from the 746 stakes (65.4%) it considers eligible: those races which are unrestricted and offer a minimum purse of $75,000.
Two of the six new Grade 1 races are Breeders’ Cup events added in 2007: the Dirt Mile and Filly and Mare Sprint. A third Breeders’ Cup race, the Juvenile Turf, also new in 2007, was designated as a Grade 2. The new Breeders’ Cup races in 2008: the Marathon, Juvenile Fillies Turf, and Turf Sprint were not graded because they have had just one running.
The other new Grade 1 races are the Jamaica Handicap for 3-year-olds on dirt at Belmont Park; the Pat O’Brien Handicap at Del Mar for sprinters, 3 and up; the Clement L. Hirsch Handicap for fillies and mares at Del Mar; and the Vinery Madison Stakes for filly and mare sprinters at Keeneland.
The only race to lose Grade 1 status was the Suburban Handicap at Belmont Park for older horses going a route of ground at Belmont Park.
The upgrading of the Pat O’Brien gives Del Mar two Grade 1 sprint races of the nine Grade 1 sprints in the older horse division. Combined with the three Grade 1 races at a mile (Metropolitan Handicap, Cigar Mile, Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile), there are now more Grade 1 races for older horses on dirt or synthetics at distances of a mile or less than there are Grade 1 races for older horses going longer than a mile on those surfaces.
The committee uses different statistical tools to grade races, including individual horse ratings compiled by a panel of North American racing officials. Some subjectivity is also included in the process.
Click here to view the TOBA press release about the 2009 graded stakes, including those races that changed in grade.
Click here to view the entire 2009 list of American graded stakes.
Copyright © 2008, The Paulick Report
Visit the Paulick Report for all the latest news throughout the racing world.
Sign up for our Email Flashes to get the latest news, analysis and commentary from Ray Paulick
Tags: agsc, american graded stakes committee, belmont park, Breeders' Cup, breeders' cup dirt mile, breeders' cup filly and mare sprint, clement l. hirsch handicap, Del Mar, grade 1 races, graded stakes, Horse Racing, Keeneland, pat o'brien handicap, Paulick Report, peter willmott, Ray Paulick, suburban handicap, Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, TOBA, vinery madison stakes
Posted in Breeders' Cup, Industry Organizations, TOBA | 1 Comment »
|
|
