Graded Stakes Committee Makes Changes

[freddymo]

How the F is the BEST 2 year old race ....The Hopeful not a G! at SPA

[slotdirt]

Charles Town Classic!

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by freddymo

How the F is the BEST 2 year old race ....The Hopeful not a G! at SPA

Everyone knows there is no good 2 year old racing at Saratoga...

[freddymo]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

Everyone knows there is no good 2 year old racing at Saratoga...

Yep we need to promote Keeneland and their SPECIAL horse healthy racing surface.. Shameful simply shameful ..Its the Hopeful for Christ sake..The winners of the Hopeful line the Hall of Fame..THE FN BREEDERS CUP JUVY SPRINTS ?

[rgustafson]

Originally Posted by freddymo

Yep we need to promote Keeneland and their SPECIAL horse healthy racing surface.. Shameful simply shameful ..Its the Hopeful for Christ sake..The winners of the Hopeful line the Hall of Fame..THE FN BREEDERS CUP JUVY SPRINTS ?

Not saying that I disagree with your rant about the Hopeful downgrade, but the Graded Stakes committe uses certain criteria to make their recommendations and evidentally felt that recent runnings did not measure up. Your other comments are somewhat misconstrued. The Keeneland upgrade, the Jenny wiley is on the turf so no promotion of their SPECIAL surface there, though I understand your comment pertains to leaving the Blue Grass a Grade I. As far as the Breeders Cup races that were upgraded they were the Juvenile Fillies Turf( not a sprint) and the Turf Sprint for older males, 3& up. I thimk that you would agree that it has pretty much been a foregone conclusion that once a Breeders Cup race has been run enough times a Grade I status is awarded( the exception being the Marathon which is an ill concieved joke of a race and hopefully will not be continued)

[NTamm1215]

Originally Posted by rgustafson

Not saying that I disagree with your rant about the Hopeful downgrade, but the Graded Stakes committe uses certain criteria to make their recommendations and evidentally felt that recent runnings did not measure up. Your other comments are somewhat misconstrued. The Keeneland upgrade, the Jenny wiley is on the turf so no promotion of their SPECIAL surface there, though I understand your comment pertains to leaving the Blue Grass a Grade I. As far as the Breeders Cup races that were upgraded they were the Juvenile Fillies Turf( not a sprint) and the Turf Sprint for older males, 3& up. I thimk that you would agree that it has pretty much been a foregone conclusion that once a Breeders Cup race has been run enough times a Grade I status is awarded( the exception being the Marathon which is an ill concieved joke of a race and hopefully will not be continued)

The 2009 and 2010 runnings of the Hopeful were by no means spectacular but did feature 1-2-3 finishers that subsequently won the Gotham, Jim Dandy, Travers, Commonwealth, and Churchill Downs.

The 2010 Ruffian was won by a G2 winner who came back to place in a G2. The runner-up came back to win the BC Distaff. The year before the 2nd place finisher was a G1 winner and the winner was exiting a 2nd place finish in a G1.

Neither of these two races deserved to be downgraded. The Jenny Wiley and Cotillion were races that deserved to be upgraded.

[cmorioles]

Originally Posted by rgustafson

I thimk that you would agree that it has pretty much been a foregone conclusion that once a Breeders Cup race has been run enough times a Grade I status is awarded( the exception being the Marathon which is an ill concieved joke of a race and hopefully will not be continued)

Isn't the Turf Sprint pretty much along the same lines, a joke?

[Antitrust32]

it's an absolute disgrace that the Hopeful is no longer a Grade 1. In my opinion it is a premier 2yo race right up there with the BC Juv.

Who the hell makes these kind of decisions?

[Linny]

The way 2yo's are campaigned nowadays, I understand the Hopeful downgrade. Most years of late it's been a glorified NW1x. In fact, I tend to think that the Euro's have it right in that only their major year end "destination" races for 2yo's have G1 status. I thus think that the Del Mar Futurity should also be downgraded. History can only go so far. Many of the "great races" won by the sports champions have vanished due to lack of ongoing interest or competition from other venues. Just ask Pimlico. The Special was once a must on the resumes of top older horses.

When the elite horses are scheduled to have 5 and 6 race campaigns the sport simply cannot support the number of G1's it once did.

I guss I get the BC upgrades, but in all honesty the turf sprint division remains very broad but not very deep. Maybe they want the spinoff 2yo grass fillies to have the same status as the colts but again we just really don't have a 2yo grass division so I think that this race is a nod to egt more Wuro partication from the highest ranks.

The Jenny Wiley has attracted good fields but I'm not sure it's really a G1 either.

I am surprised that the Gazelle didn't get chopped.

[rgustafson]

Originally Posted by cmorioles

Isn't the Turf Sprint pretty much along the same lines, a joke?

There has been such a large proliferation of this type of race in recent years, especially at some major venues (NYRA tracks in particular) that eventually some halfway decent horses find their way into these races. On the other hand, 1 3/4 miles on the dirt......um. not so much.

[blackthroatedwind]

Originally Posted by rgustafson

There has been such a large proliferation of this type of race in recent years, especially at some major venues (NYRA tracks in particular) that eventually some halfway decent horses find their way into these races. On the other hand, 1 3/4 miles on the dirt......um. not so much.

So " halfway decent horses " make up Grade 1 races now?