Letter To The Editor: Policing Black-Type Standards

I thoroughly applaud the position of Arion Pedigrees, reported in TDN Europe (The Thoroughbred Report), October 15, opting to wait for review and rating from the appropriate authorities before accepting, in the pedigrees it produces, the Group (Grade) One status claimed by Racing Australia for The Everest and the All-Star Mile.  For a commercial company to take this stand, when it would have been so easy to enhance a race-record or a sales pedigree by simply adding G1 to the race title, shows courage and integrity.

These two stakes are very important races and if they maintain their present status, most probably will ultimately be awarded the Group 1 designation.  But the process followed internationally and imposed on record-keepers must be the arbiter of the black-type system.  Arion Pedigrees does not necessarily earn credit for following the rules, but it definitely deserves much more for not allowing standards to slide.

Whether it was a slip of the pen or a deliberate sleight, I was disheartened that the USA was not included with the UK and France as being “trusted” to police black-type standards.

As publishers of nearly all US sales catalogues, Fasig-Tipton, Keeneland and Ocala Breeders' Sales, all member of the Society of International Thoroughbred Auctioneers (SITA), in my time were very actively involved in the annual review of North American black-type.  So were the racing secretaries of our principal racetracks. The overall authority is in the hands of the Thoroughbred Owners' and Breeders' Association (TOBA), which under its past chairmen and sub-committees, studiously examined, then downgraded and elevated black-type according to the quality of the horses which participated and the levels of minimum purses. The recommendations coming from these in-depth deliberations are then submitted promptly to similar committees representing the international racing community and, invariably, are accepted and incorporated into black-type qualifications.

I hope that leaving us out of the “trusted” jurisdictions by Arion Pedigrees was an innocent omission and not a more troubling suggestion that the USA is thought by some to be lax in keeping its house in order.