No international recognition for the NSW ‘dirty dozen’
Black type status for New South Wales’s list of 12 races supposedly given recent upgrades – including the four already run – have no recognition internationally, it has been confirmed, as the chaos surrounding Australia’s grade pattern continues.
It comes as the influential Society of International Thoroughbred Auctioneers (SITA) expressed its severe disappointment that Australia has gone its own way in having no black type committee, and warned the global thoroughbred community was “not happy” with Australia’s grading debacle.
SITA said it wrote to Racing Australia (RA) on Friday to express its concerns over the Australian black type situation. ANZ Bloodstock News understands the hugely influential Asian Pattern Committee (APC) also emailed RA a strongly worded letter over the weekend to express its dissatisfaction.
With the deadline looming next week for publication of pedigrees for January’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale catalogue, uncertainty over Australia’s black type pattern is set to affect two more races at Randwick this Saturday: The Invitation (1400m) and the Five Diamonds Prelude (1500m), slated for Group 2 and Listed status.
And alongside the revelation Australia is believed to have had no races downgraded for 12 years, it also emerged on Monday that RA appears to have contravened ground rules set down by the APC in listing the NSW 12 as upgraded.
Under recent machinations at RA which led to Group 1 status – internationally recognised – for The Everest (Gr 1, 1200m) and Victoria’s All Star Mile (Gr 1, 1600m), a dozen more NSW races were tagged as given black type upgrades, by RA and Racing NSW.
A further 56 upgrades had been planned across other states, but these have now been put on hold amid the continuing storm over the issue.
RA told ANZ last Friday that in listing the NSW 12, it had abided by the APC’s ground rules which appeared to show national administrators had the final say on upgrades up to Group 2 level.
However, it now appears RA and RNSW have jumped the gun in stating the races had already been given upgrades and that, under the ground rules, they ought to have waited for APC approval at an annual round of assessments before the races could be held with new status next season.
In an interview with ANZ on Friday, RA chief executive Paul Eriksson cited the APC’s ground rule 3.i, which states in full:
“Decisions relating to Group 1 races [including the upgrading of races to Group 1] and to races run in countries which are not members of the Committee will be taken by the Committee. Other than in exceptional circumstances, decisions relating to all other Pattern and Listed races will be determined, based on the Ground Rules of the Committee, by the Racing Authority of the relevant member country, which will then notify the Committee at the Annual Meeting.”
However, SITA chairman Jonathan D’Arcy on Monday said the intent of the ground rules was that approval may be given at that APC “annual meeting”, after which any races in question could be run under their new status.
Ground rule 6.i. states in full:
“All Pattern race proposals planned for instigation in the following season should be notified to the Secretariat by the relevant date of the two designated deadlines to be determined by the Committee, for immediate circulation to all members of the Committee.”
In an interview with ANZ, D’Arcy – also a long term auctioneer at Australian sales house Inglis – brought clarity to past confusion over the process for international ratification of black type changes.
Specifically, the APC has the authority to sign off on all such alterations in Australia and the APC’s other member nations, and it then informs SITA and the powerful International Grading and Race Planning Advisory Committee (IRPAC) that this has been done.
The races’ changed status will then be denoted in the International Cataloguing Standards publication “The Blue Book”, which is overseen by SITA, and which is the reference source for sales companies around the world.
Eriksson on Friday said RA had not notified the APC of the NSW 12, as it believed it didn’t have to.
Accordingly, D’Arcy said SITA had received no notification from the APC regarding these races, and because of this SITA, like IRPAC and The Blue Book, did not recognise their upgrades.
This means the black type that connections and breeders believed was earned by horses winning and placing in the four races from the NSW ’dirty dozen’ already run has no meaning in the eyes of the racing world and, crucially, those assembling catalogues, such as Magic Millions.
The quartet still have their mooted upgrades noted on RA and RNSW systems. However, Arion, the southern hemisphere’s largest pedigree provider, has not recognised the upgrades, with managing director Kyla Johnston telling ANZ last Friday: “We will be handling them as per the International Cataloguing Standards (ICS) list of Australian black type for 2024-25.”
Those four races and winners were:
October 12
Tapp-Craig (1400m) – “upgraded” from non black type to Listed
Winner: Anode (I Am Invincible)
Breeder Evergreen Rich
Trainer: Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott
Jockey: Tim Clark
October 19
St Leger Stakes (2600m) – non-black type to Group 3
Athabascan (Almanzor)
Breeder: Ecurie Peregrine (FR)
Trainer: John O’Shea and Tom Charlton
Jockey: Tommy Berry
Reginald Allen Quality (1400m) – Listed to Group 3
Aeliana (Castelvecchio)
Breeder: Nearco Stud & Rich Hill Thoroughbreds (NZ)
Trainer: Chris Waller
Jockey: James McDonald
Silver Eagle (1300m) – non black type to Group 3
Ostraka (Pariah)
Breeder: Arrowfield
Trainer: Annabel Neasham and Rob Archibald
Jockey: Blake Shinn
Asked if the NSW 12 were in fact upgraded, D’Arcy told ANZ Bloodstock News: “At this point in time they are not, because they haven’t been notified to us. They have to be notified to IPRAC and SITA before you can say they’re recognised in catalogues around the world.”
Asked if races could only be run as upgraded after the APC had been advised annually, D’Arcy said: “That would be the normal process.
“My understanding of the ground rules of the APC is that the races should be notified prior to the running of them. The conversation between Racing Australia and the APC is what is going to establish the status of these races.”
Asked if RA and RNSW’s designation of the 12 – which are part of 30 NSW races set down for upgrades – had any meaning in international cataloguing, D’Arcy said: “Not at this point in time. I’m not saying it won’t happen, but the APC will tell us what they decide to do.”
And asked about RA’s insistence it had followed the APC’s ground rules, D’Arcy said: “There is a series of ground rules and they have to be taken as a sum of a total, not just pick out a certain line in the ground rules that they think they might have followed.
“Racing Australia would be well aware of the full gamut of those ground rules and they should be following them.”
Despite this, Eriksson on Monday said RA’s position had not changed.
“I’m not going to further engage at this time. Our view is our view. We will engage with the APC when it is appropriate and we will go forward from there,” he told ANZ.
When it was put to him APC approval needed to be granted before races could be run as upgraded, Eriksson said: “That’s not what they’ve written to us. We will sit those [the NSW 12] as they are,” meaning with their listed upgrades.
NSW’s black type confusion is set to flare again this Saturday around The Invitation and the Five Diamonds Prelude.
Like the $2 million invite-only The Invitation (1400m), Newcastle’s $1 million The Hunter (1300m) on November 16 is also slated to debut in black type as a Group 2.
However, the APC’s ground rule 3.ii (d) states in full:
“A race satisfying the requirements for admission to the Pattern must be introduced as a Group 3 race other than in exceptional circumstances. If it is proposed that a race be introduced as a Group 2 or Group 1 race, approval must be sought from the Committee.”
As the deadline looms for Arion to publish pedigrees for the Magic Millions catalogue, D’Arcy said SITA had written to RA last Friday stating “where we sat” over the upgrades.
“It’s important we explain our position, because this has an effect on breeders who are selling yearlings who are relations to horses who might be winning those races,” D’Arcy said.
“At the present time those breeders aren’t going to be getting the benefit of the black type because it’s not recognised internationally and by Magic Millions and Inglis until it’s sent through to IRPAC and SITA.”
Amid the ongoing political wars between NSW under RNSW CEO Peter V’landys and Victoria, now under the guidance of new Racing Victoria CEO Aaron Morrison, Australia has not had a pattern committee for some six years. This is despite a stipulation in the APC ground rules that each country must have one.
RA – where V’landys has become a board member since NSW parliament rejected an application for another extension to Russell Balding’s term as RNSW chairman late last year – earlier this month announced in a statement that the pattern committee, and by extension the Australian pattern as it was known, was dead.
It had been replaced by “the new ‘Australian Black Type Guidelines’”, a ratings-based system formed on input from “usually” each state’s chief handicapper, which “seeks to provide a modern approach that will cater to Australia’s unique racing environment”.
It will also operate with regard to legal advice tabled at RA from states including NSW that the pattern was anti-competitive.
D’Arcy, however, called for the reinstitution of a pattern committee to “bring Australia into line with the rest of the world”, while warning of international anger over the country’s isolated position.
“I think I’m right in saying there hasn’t been a downgrade of a race in Australia for 12 years. It’s not good enough,” he said.
“The International community is not happy with the fact no one’s looking at Australian Group and Listed races and upgrading them and downgrading them as we see fit.
“Australia needs to have an overhaul of our pattern. Races that deserve black type need to be recognised, and races that are not reaching the benchmarks set around the world with ratings need to be downgraded.
“We need to do that as a matter of urgency. We need a panel of people who have skin in the game, who understand how this system works,” he said, adding this would include state handicappers and representatives from sales companies as well as breeders.
While that would resemble the pattern committee Australia had for 50 years before the current impasse, D’Arcy said adjustments would be needed given the amount of new races in recent years.
“We’re certainly not going to go back to the pattern of races that were there 20 years ago,” he said. “Now, because of big prize–money races and trainers and owners wanting to target those races, those races are becoming our major races in the country.
“You can’t stop progress, and the pattern as it existed 20 years ago is not the answer today.
“But SITA is very disappointed we haven’t had oversight of racing here. It’s something that’s been discussed at a couple of our meetings over that time.
“What’s important is we’re part of a global community, and that’s what the thoroughbred industry is on a global scale.
“Unfortunately, we [SITA] are not in a position to put any pressure on anyone, but it’s to the detriment of Australia’s reputation around the world that it hasn’t got a functioning black type committee. Australia is putting pressure on itself by not having one.
“International investors need to have confidence in our product to be able to invest. And if that confidence is eroded by things that happen, then the whole industry here will be the loser. People won’t invest in this industry because of that.”
Magic Millions confirmed the NSW 12 would not be recognised as upgraded in their catalogue for January at the least.
“We, like all the sales companies in this region, are very close to going to print with our catalogues for the yearlings sales early in 2025,” Bowditch told ANZ in a statement.
“We will continue to conform to the recommendations of the relevant international bodies which do not recognise the upgrades currently.
“We’ll have a process in place to update pedigrees if IRPAC recognises any upgrades to black type in between catalogue launch and the relevant sale. This is in line with standard practice for SITA members worldwide.”
D’Arcy said the absence of a pattern committee was “holding Australian racing back”, and said a proper black type system was crucial.
“Breeders around the world and in Australia, the whole backbone of them getting involved in racing is to win a black type race and to own a mare who’s capable of winning a black type race,” he said.
“Talk to trainers, jockeys, breeders and owners; their legacy is how many Group 1 winners they’ve ridden, trained, bred or owned. That’s the value of black type.”
Some industry participants fear Australia might be relegated to Book 2 status in the international Stud Book by IRPAC if the current situation continues, meaning it would have no globally-recognised Group races.
D’Arcy, who has sat on IRPAC for the past two years, said: “It’s within their arsenal to pull that trigger, but I would hope that’s not the case.”
