Six New Grade 1 Stakes in 2009

by Patricia Woo | Dec 23 2008

Horse bettors will enjoy six new grade 1 stakes in 2009, an early Christmas present from the American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association. Two of those races are Breeders' Cup events: the Filly & Mare Sprint and the Dirt Mile. Read more about these and the other new grade 1 stakes races here.

Six U.S. races were upgraded to grade 1 status for 2009, meaning that horse bettors got an early Christmas present from the American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association when they released the list of graded stakes on Nov. 25. The Vinery Madison Stakes, the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint and the Dirt Mile, the Pat O’Brien Handicap, the Clement L. Hirsh Handicap and the Jamaica Handicap will all sport grade 1 status next year.
 
In grading races, the committee considers the following: the race’s purse (for example, for a race to qualify as grade 1 it must have a purse of over $300,000), whether it has a history of being run under similar conditions for two years, whether it has government-mandated drug testing after the race, what the restrictions are on the horses’ age and gender, as well as the type of anabolic steroids permitted and the length of the horses’ toe grabs. The quality of the field is also taken into account, as the committee examines, among other factors, the competitors’ performances in stakes races 24 months before and after the race in question.
 
Ventura, a 4-year-old mare trained by Bobby Frankel Jr., likely contributed to two of the race upgrades. She won the $200,000 Vinery Madison Stakes, then a grade 2 race, at Keeneland in April. Then she faced a deep field that included favorite Indian Blessing and highly regarded Zaftig when she won the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint in October at Santa Anita Park. And though Albertus Maximus scored an upset in this year’s Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, the race had attracted the likes of Pyro, runner up in the 2007 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile event, as well as Goodwood Stakes champion Well Armed.
 
Star power also was a likely factor in the upgrade of two Del Mar races upgrades, the Pat O’Brien Handicap and the Clement L. Hirsch Handicap, which are both run in August. The Pat O’Brien Handicap, for 3-year-olds and up, attracted 2007 and eventual 2008 Breeders’ Cup Sprint champion Midnight Lute, but the title was captured by Washington Park Handicap winner Lewis Michael. And the Clement L. Hirsch Handicap for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up was won by undefeated Zenyatta, who also took home the Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic title and who is a top contender for 2008 Horse of the Year.
 
Also sporting new grade 1 status is the turf-run Jamaica Handicap for 3-year-olds and up, held at Belmont Park, a race that Nobiz Like Shobiz won in 2007 to mark his third straight graded stakes win.
 
So horse bettors and racing fans have a lot to look forward to next year. The upgrade in status means higher purses, which translates into a greater chance that superstar horses will attend… and more of them. Established grade 1 races such as the Kentucky Derby and the Breeders’ Cup Classic regularly attract household names in horse racing like Big Brown and Curlin; these six new grade 1 races now have the opportunity to begin building their own legacies starting in 2009.
 
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