Future Champions Day, Middle Park Moved
Newmarket’s Future Champions Day, which was held the day before Ascot’s British Champions Day for the first time last year, will this year revert to Oct. 10, a week earlier. Future Champions Day will feature the G1 Dewhurst S., while the G1 Middle Park S.–which has been contested on the Future Champions card since 2011– will move to Sept. 26, back to its former slot two weeks before the Dewhurst.
These changes were unveiled yesterday by the European Pattern Committee following its annual meeting Jan. 15 as part of an ongoing review of Europe’s autumn 2-year-old calendar. In other changes, the G1 Jean-Luc Lagardere on the G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe undercard will be bumped up to a mile from 1400 meters, while the G1 Criterium International will see the reverse change and will be contested on the same day as the G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud, which has been moved a week earlier.
“Changes in France have opened the door to move the Dewhurst and Future Champions Day back a week and the earlier date for the Middle Park does, we believe, represent a positive step towards producing a better balanced autumn 2-year-old program,” said the BHA’s Director of Racing Ruth Quinn. “We look forward to working with Newmarket on the precise make-up of their program.”
The EPC also approved upgrades for five pattern races. The Dahlia S. at Newmarket, the Ridgewood Pearl S. at The Curragh and the Baden Racing Stutenpreis at Baden-Baden–all for fillies–were upgraded to Group 2 status, as was the Baden Meile, for 3-year-olds and up, at Baden-Baden. The Curragh S. for juveniles has been upgraded to Group 3, and eight new listed races, including six for older fillies and mares, have been created for 2015.
The EPC has identified 22 pattern races at risk of downgrade in 2016. This could happen if the races fail to achieve their required performance rating in 2015. Amongst these races are the G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup at The Curragh, and the G1 Prix Royal-Oak at Longchamp.
The EPC also noted that the weight-for-age scale has been the subject of a review by handicappers in Britain and Ireland, and their findings were discussed by International handicappers in Hong Kong in December. The subject will be given further consideration at the next EPC meeting in June. Going forward, the committee will also consider Europe’s staying and middle-distance programs to ensure European horses continue to thrive in this category.
“I would like to thank all the members of the committee, as I believe the outcome of this year’s meeting has delivered significant progress, while recognizing that the autumn 2-year-old program, in particular, could be improved further in the years to come,” said Brian Kavanagh, chairman of the EPC. “It is a challenge balancing the interests and ambitions of individual jurisdictions with those of other member countries, but there is also recognition that a strong European Pattern brings benefits to all. In conjunction with the notable changes announced last year to the European 3-year-old sprint program, I am delighted with what we have been able to achieve and implement for 2015.”
Italy Update…
Another topic of discussion at the meeting was Italian racing. The Italian Ministry of Agriculture noted that all purses owed to overseas connections for black-type races in 2012 and 2013 have now been paid, with the exception of a small number of owners for which bank account details have not been available. In addition, a commitment has been made to pay all domestic owners by the end of 2015, and purse payments for black-type races in 2014 have been paid within 90 days of the race in accordance with the European Pattern Ground Rules.
Four Italian pattern races have been downgraded for 2015–the Premio Ribot has been downgraded to Group 3 status, while the Premio Carlo Chiesa and the Premio Mario Incisa will this year be listed status. Four Italian Group 1s–the Premio Presidente Della Repubblica, the Premio Milano, Premio Jockey Club and Premio Roma–are at risk for downgrade in 2016.