Posts Tagged ‘vinery madison stakes’
Friday, September 11th, 2009
Â
If there has been a stronger and deeper field for a Grade 3 race than Saturday night’s Presque Isle Downs Masters Stakes, please tell me what it was. The filly and mare sprint over 6 1/2 furlongs on the Tapeta synthetic surface has attract a field of 12, including four Grade 1 winners. The third running of the $400,000 contest will be shown on TVG at 8 p.m. (all times Eastern).
Two of the Grade 1 winners, Test Stakes winner Flashing and Princess Rooney Handicap winner Game Face, have never raced on a synthetic track. Neither has Diamondrella, who was won six consecutive races for trainer Angel Penna Jr., the most recent coming in the Grade 1 Just a Game on a yielding Belmont Park turf course in June.
The fourth filly in the quarter of Grade 1 winners is Informed Decision, who is four-for-four on synthetics, her biggest win coming this spring over Ventura in the Vinery Madison Stakes at Keeneland going seven furlongs. The daughter of Monarchos has won eight of 11 lifetime starts for the owner-trainer team of George Strawbridge and Jonathan Sheppard, and the gray filly figures to be favored over this tough bunch of distaff sprinters on Saturday night.
After the Labor Day weekend’s bonanza of Grade 1 races from coast to coast and the exciting and historic victory by Rachel Alexandra in the Woodward at Saratoga, there has to something of a letdown this weekend. California racing has shifted to the bullring at the Los Angeles County Fair at Pomona, where you can get your fill of other racing breeds, and New York has moved to Big Sandy at Belmont Park, where the only Grade 1 races of the weekend are being held.
Those two Grade 1s are the Ruffian Handicap on the Belmont Park dirt track at 2:35 p.m. on TVG and HRTV and the Garden City Stakes on the Belmont turf at 4:43 p.m.
On Sunday, with a full slate of games from opening week of the NFL, things really slow down, with just one graded stakes scheduled: the Bowling Green Handicap from Belmont at 5:10 p.m.
Â
Tags: Diamondrella, Flashing, Game Face, Informed Decision, KBC Horse Supplies, Masters Stakes, monarchos, presque isle downs, Rachel Alexandra, tapeta, ventura, vinery madison stakes, Weekend Stakes: Where to Watch, woodward
Posted in Weekend Stakes: Where to Watch | 3 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 »
|
|
.jpg)