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#1
08-03-2010, 12:32 PM
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Watered down Graded Stakes
Since 2004, there have been a grand total of zero horses to win at least one Graded Stakes race and make more than ten starts in Graded Stakes races in the same year.
In the year 1996 alone - 7 different horses managed to do just that. Serena's Song made 15 starts in Graded Stakes, Diplomatic Jet 14, Shoop 14, Mecke 13, Editor's Note 12, Victory Speech 12, and Honour And Glory 11. In 1996, 58 different horses who won atleast one Graded Stakes race that year made 11 or more starts that year alone in all races .. ungraded stakes, alw, etc included. I don't have an ARM or Graded Stakes yearbook with last years runners in it .. but I would expect the number to be 5 or less as opposed to the 58 it was in 1996. Not only are good horses racing dramatically less often over the last 12 to 15 years ... but their connections seem to be trying much harder than ever to avoid facing other good horses ... and worst of all - the number of Graded Stakes appear to be fairly consistent in number to where they were about 12 to 15 years ago. I guess this best explains how a field like last weekends Haskell could be described as an all-time great field .. only to see a strong favorite winner run no faster than nobuddy 4yo Omniscient did earlier in the day, a strong second choice in the betting running 2nd in his Graded Stakes debut, and a 1-for-9 3rd place finisher get his 4th straight Grade 1 placing. With the way horses are being campaigned now - you'd have to eliminate a huge number of Graded Stakes races to almost force them into coming together to counter the watering down effect. That's obviously not going to happen. Thankfully, admirably consistent top class horses like Rachel Alexandra, Zenyatta, Quality Road, Gio Ponti, Lookin At Lucky, Eskenderya, Blind Luck, Devil May Care, Rail Trip, and Blame have all been there for us to deny a pile of truly despicably unworthy horses from winning important Grade 1 races. These top class slayer of slowpokes have combined to prevent so many miserable bums from winning Grade 1 races .. that I think we should all give them a round of applause. Gio Ponti just had a horse who was defeated in a 35K claimer last out run 2nd to him in a Grade 1 .. but who can forget his fine work last year, when he denied Grade 1 wins from such swine 2nd place finishers as Marsh Side, Muskatieer, and Just As Well ... if only he could have outdueled Interpretation! The watering down process of these big races have obviously allowed top horses of today to put together big resumes so much easier than top horses who raced even 10 years ago had to deal with. 
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#3
08-03-2010, 01:14 PM
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The graded stakes system is in dire need of a critical assesssment and review. At the core, grading a race before it is run is goofy. Some ask how you can market a race that's not graded to the public. I say the public doesn't give a hoot what grade it is... they care about the horses runnng in it, even that's a stretch. If the graded stakes system were gone tomorrow, and the Travers was non-graded like every other race, would less people show up for it? Of course not.
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#4
08-03-2010, 01:16 PM
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#5
08-03-2010, 01:33 PM
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#6
08-03-2010, 01:43 PM
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It's such a crazy system. You have breeders saying the purses are not big enough to keep a horse in training, yet stakes with big purses don't fill.
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#7
08-03-2010, 01:47 PM
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The Breeders would riot if they put me in charge of Grading the stakes races right now. I would be slashing races of status left and right. Some Gr 1's would become Gr 3's. Some Gr 2's would become ungraded. Basically eliminating options for good horses in each division and almost forcing their hand into the same one or two likely spots for each start.
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#8
08-03-2010, 01:21 PM
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Cowboy Cal and Be Fair both made 10 starts in Graded Stakes company last year. Thorn Song was the only to make 10 in 2008. Nobiz Like Shobiz the only to make 10 in 2007. Like I said, you have to go back to 2004 to find a horse whos made more than 10. Seven different horses did more than ten in '96 alone.
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#9
08-03-2010, 03:28 PM
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I like Travis' idea of not grading races until the entries are out.
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#10
08-03-2010, 03:29 PM
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Steller Jayne and Gygistar.
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#11
08-03-2010, 05:35 PM
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#12
08-03-2010, 08:43 PM
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was claimed at least once based on her theoretical broodmare value
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#13
08-03-2010, 09:09 PM
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#14
08-03-2010, 11:16 PM
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Shhh though, don't tell anyone. It's a secret.
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