European Pattern Committee

By Emma Berry and Brian Sheerin On Tuesday the European Pattern Committee (EPC) announced that 42 races are at risk of being downgraded in 2025, including Britain's G1 Commonwealth Cup. Its status will depend very much on its performance in 2024, which will mark the tenth running of the race introduced to the British calendar in 2015 as a readymade Group 1 in order to "create a more balanced programme and better opportunities for high-class sprinters". The Commonwealth Cup, run at Royal Ascot over six furlongs for three-year-olds only, was...

Twelve fewer black-type races will be run in Europe in 2024 following the approval of the programme by the European Pattern Committee (EPC) which sounded a note of caution regarding "the reported increasing exports of quality horses overseas". France's Prix Saint-Alary will has been downgraded from Group 1 to Group 2 status and is one of five Group races to have been demoted, while Britain's G3 Sovereign S., traditionally run at Salisbury, will not be staged. In Ireland, the Salsabil S. has been upgraded from a Listed race to a...

Italy's major races will see the most significant downgrades among European countries after the European Pattern Committee announced alterations to the 2023 Flat programme Wednesday, as a host of that country's major races are set to be demoted in status. There will be 827 black-type races run in Europe this year, compared to the 852 in 2022, while group races have been cut by 13 to 412 and listed races drop to 415 from 427. One of the most significant changes to the Irish programme comes in the case of...

All Pattern and listed races staged in Europe in 2021 were reviewed by the European Pattern Committee (EPC) at their annual meeting, which was held virtually on Friday, Jan. 21. The EPC sanctioned 851 black-type races (854 in 2021) to be held in Europe in 2022, of which, 425 were group races (427 in 2021) and 426 listed races (427 in 2021), a reduction of three on 2021. Besides upgrading and downgraded races, the EPC also appointed Jason Morris, the Director of Racing at Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) to replace...

In light of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the pattern programme and the campaigns of the best racehorses in 2020, the European Pattern Committee has determined that no pattern or listed races will be upgraded or downgraded in 2021. The 2020 race ratings, additionally, will not be used to compile the three-year average ratings for any pattern or listed races, meaning 2020 will be treated as a gap year in terms of assessing race performances. Races at risk of downgrade will receive a stay in 2021 and will...

The announcement from Jockey Club Racecourses on Tuesday afternoon clarified, up to a point, a view which many within racing already held: that a number of the Classics would not go ahead on their original scheduled dates. There are 427 Group races and 426 listed races scheduled on the Flat in Europe this year. Only a handful has been run so far this year, the most recent being the one Group race and one listed contest on the card at Naas on Monday, Mar. 23. The next day, Ireland followed...

The downgrading of a pair of German Group 2s and a distance changes for two key French 2-year-old races were among the outcomes of the European Pattern Committee's annual meeting at the British Horseracing Authority offices on Jan. 23. Germany was hit hardest in the quality control realm, its Meilen Trophy and Goldene Peitsche downgraded from Group 2 status, and the G1 Deutsches Derby, G1 Preis von Europa, G2 Diana Trial and G2 T. von Zastrow Stutenpreis all put on notice for risk of downgrading in 2021. France was issued...