Graded Stakes Committee

When it was announced last week that former New York Post racing columnist Ray Kerrison had been selected to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame's Joe Hirsch Media Roll of Honor, New York horseplayers of a certain age had to be smiling. There have been plenty of gifted and talented men and women who have covered the sport over the years, but there's never been anyone like Ray Kerrison. He was fearless, a tremendous reporter, unafraid of whom he might alienate and was a fierce advocate for...

California racing just got dealt another brutal blow. In a year when this sport should be doing everything possible to stabilize a fragile circuit, the loss of Grade I status for the Frank E. Kilroe Mile and multiple downgrades at Santa Anita and Del Mar is very concerning. When you strip premier events in the middle of a wagering and field-size crisis, you're not "protecting the integrity of the pattern," you're accelerating the decline of one of the game's few remaining flagship jurisdictions. This outcome might look neat on a...

The American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association presented its listing of U.S. Graded and Listed Stakes Races for calendar year 2026, the results of its annual grading session conducted Dec. 17 and 18. The committee reviewed 942 U.S. stakes races with a purse of at least $75,000, and assigned Graded status to 410 of them, five fewer than were graded in 2025, and Listed status to 211 races. Eleven Graded races were upgraded; one new Grade I and 10 new Grade II races were named;...

Three previously graded races in Canada have been downgraded following an annual review of graded and listed stakes in the country by The Jockey Club Of Canada's Graded Stakes Committee. The Committee reviews the North American Race Committee (NARC) figures and Race Quality Scores (RQS) for all graded, listed and potentially listed races and determined that the GII Autumn Stakes and GII Seagram Cup Stakes, each run at Woodbine, will carry Grade III status in 2025. Additionally, the GIII BC Premier's Handicap at Hastings Park in Vancouver, will be downgraded...

While 'TDN Rising Star' Tamara (Bolt d'Oro) will be a main attraction on the Dec. 26 opening-day card at Santa Anita, another highly anticipated foal who is also out of the fan-favorite champion Beholder--this one an unnamed and unraced 2-year-old colt by Curlin--fired a bullet three-furlong morning move Saturday in just his third published workout for trainer Bob Baffert and owner Zedan Racing. The in-company :36 clocking (1/18) just prior to the Christmas holiday on a non-racing Saturday at Santa Anita might have flown a touch under-the-radar for a juvenile...

by Clodagh Kavanagh The 2020-2022 Godolphin Flying Start trainees have been tasked to use their knowledge and creativity to come up with proposals for a new look U.S. Graded Stakes Program for 3-year-olds. These four round table discussions will be published in TDN on May 15, 17, 19, and 21. First up we have England's George Broughton, England's Tommy Lyon-Smith and France's Marine Moussa who will be focusing on 3-year-old colts. Click here for Part One.  Please send feedback and suggestions to the trainees via Kate Hardy at khardy@godolphinflyingstart.com. All...

The American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association released its listing of U.S. graded and listed stakes races for 2021, the results of its annual grading session conducted Dec. 15-16. A single race, the Saratoga Derby Invitational S. at Saratoga, was upgraded to Grade I status for 2021. No races were downgraded from Grade I to Grade II for 2021. The committee evaluated races conducted following the 2019 Breeders' Cup through Mar. 15 as normal, and races conducted after March 15 were evaluated as normal, as...

When it was announced last week that a record $748.6 million had been wagered on sports during September in New Jersey that appeared to be more bad news for horse racing. It was the most ever bet in any one state during a month and a sign of the times. The amount legally wagered on sports in this country is soaring, with no end in sight, and it stood to reason that some of that money had been siphoned off from racing. Sports betting is now available in 18 states...