Keeneland presents American Graded Stakes Standings: Distance Limitations
It’s a little bit of a chicken and egg question. What came first: A breed of horses better suited to winning over sprint distances, or an increasingly bigger group of Thoroughbreds entering the breeding shed after winning Grade 1 sprint races?
Speed has always been important to the Thoroughbred breed, but the ideal horse was one who could carry his speed a distance of ground. That’s not so important these days, because there are plenty of Graded Stakes, and especially Grade 1 races, where a horse just has to be fast for six or seven furlongs.
December is usually open season on the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association’s American Graded Stakes Committee, which early in the month releases its list of Grade 1, 2, and 3 races for the upcoming year.
The biggest criticism this year focused on the committee’s downgrading of the historic Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga Race Course from Grade 1 to 2. The seven-furlong contest has been used as a springboard for many great horses over the years, but numbers the committee uses to evaluate races must have come up weak on field quality in recent years. Thus the downgrade.
My beef with the committee doesn’t involve any specific races. It’s with how various committee members, over the last 25 years, have, in my opinion, given Grade 1 status to far too many sprint races for 3-year-olds and upward.
In the early days of the Graded Stakes Committee, there was only one Grade 1 sprint for 3-year-olds and up: the Vosburgh at Belmont Park in the fall. Then, with the creation of the Breeders’ Cup in 1984 came the Grade 1 BC Sprint. Before long, there were Grade 1 sprints all over the country for both males and females.
It’s gotten to the point that there are nearly as many Grade 1 races at distances from 5-7 furlongs as there are at the American Classic distance of a mile and a quarter.
By my count, 19 Grade 1 races for horses aged 3 and up will be run at sprint distances of five furlongs (1 race), six furlongs (7 races), or seven furlongs (11 races). Nine of the Grade 1 sprints are for fillies and mares.
The effect of having all these Grade 1 sprints could be significant on the Thoroughbred breed. Having a Grade 1 win on a horse’s record is an important consideration for stallion farms, so more of these sprinters are going to stud than ever before.
How did this happen? For one thing, the committee looks at the number of Grade 1, 2 or 3 winners entered in races when they evaluate what grade to give a stakes. As more sprints are designated Grade 1, the winners of those races make other sprint fields appear stronger. It’s self-perpetuating.
The committee downgraded Del Mar’s seven-furlong Pat O’Brien from Grade 1 to 2 status for 2012 (though it upgraded the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint from Grade 2 to 1). I’m sure it’s difficult to downgrade races, especially since the grading sessions rely heavily on objective statistical matter. But TOBA and its committee would be doing the industry a favor if it stepped back on an issue like this and asked, “Does this make sense?”
