http://www.ntra.com/content.aspx?type=tele&id=36627
Chairman of the American Graded Stakes Committee: Peter Willmott
Secretary of the American Graded Stakes Committee: Andy Schweigardt
there is a a five year window that the committee looks at and that is the five most recent runnings of a race.
And the committee looks at four statistical measurements for each of those years and that's the percentage of graded stakes winners in the race, it has a point system where a horse can earn points for finishing first, second or third in a Grade I, Grade II or Grade III.
And it's a sliding scale starting with most points for winning a Grade I and all the way down to finishing second in an open but ungraded stakes race. The committee has a measurement called quality points, which a horse earns for winning a graded stakes race and again, it's winning a Grade I you get a quality point that's worth more than winning a Grade III.
And then there's what's called a NARC rating, NARC standing for the North American Rating Committee. That is a committee of six racing officials from throughout North America and each week they review all open stakes races with a purse of $75,000 or more and assigned a rating.