BRIAN KAVANAGH, Horse Racing Ireland’s chief executive, has questioned the number and distribution of Group and Graded races within the international Pattern system, suggesting that some countries should examine whether to cull their allocation of black-type events.
Speaking in his capacity as chairman of the European Pattern Committee, he said: “Based on latest World’s Best Racehorse Rankings, where the top ten horses represent six different countries, we genuinely have a global racing industry, but the total number of Group or Graded races has increased by ten per cent in 30 years, against a background of a fall in foal numbers, which does suggest we have an excess of black-type races.”
Kavanagh pointed to the examples of Japan and Turkey, which had reduced the number of Group races in order to emphasise the quality of their top events, with a view to joining the major open-race nations in Part 1 of the International Cataloguing Standards ‘blue book’, which contains stakes races given Group/Graded or Listed status in sales catalogues.
He said: “Japan took a radical decision to make a 50 per cent reduction in its Pattern races a few years ago, and Turkey, which has three international Group races, cut back a huge number. It behoves us to make sure the number of races in Part 1 are consistent.”
Kavanagh was speaking at the Pan American Conference in New York, jointly hosted by racing authorities in South America, whose participation in the Group/Graded system he welcomed but which he suggested required examination.
He said: “South America needs to look in detail at the quality of its Graded races, and more downgrading needs to be done before the end of 2016.” The imbalance was “not fair on other countries,” he added.
Kavanagh’s observations were echoed by Bill Nader, of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, who added: “Of the 462 Group 1 races in 2014, New Zealand had 22 and South Africa 33, but Japan only 23. The relativity seems to be out of alignment.
“We have to come to some agreement about what policy is globally acceptable going forward and is not just a mathematical exercise.”
However, Nader warned: “It’s going to be tough to be consistent. Getting the toothpaste out of the tube is easy; getting it back in is a different matter, especially when countries hae different approaches to the subject.”
Speaking from an auction-house perspective, Tom Thornbury, of Keeneland, said: “A Group 1 race in Australia should equal a Group 1 in England and a Grade 1 in the US.”
var $facebookBlock = $(‘#facebook’);
if ($facebookBlock.length){
$facebookBlock.attr(‘allowTransparency’, true);
}