'They've just hijacked the Pattern' - fears and fury in Australia after remarkable number of race upgrades

There are fears that international confidence in buying Australian horses could be threatened by a huge number of upgrades to the classification of races.

On Wednesday, it was revealed that New South Wales and Victoria had facilitated Group 1 status for The Everest and the All Star Mile, while Sydney would also have 12 black-type upgrades. In addition, Racing Queensland boss Jason Scott told ANZ Bloodstock News his state had 18 races set to be upgraded, although none to Group 1 level. With all other states set to announce similar moves, there could be as many as 50 upgrades in total.

These have been decided on a limited sample of race ratings alone and without a traditional Pattern committee – a body that is said to be anti-competitive according to legal advice reported to have been put to Racing Australia.

Downgrades might be discussed at a later date, but ANZ reports that there has been considerable pushback against any such action, potentially leading to a hugely bloated programme of Pattern races in Australia.

In a further complication, all proposed upgrades – including those in Sydney already adjusted on the Racing Australia calendar – might yet be rejected by international authorities. Group 1 status for The Everest and All Star Mile has been approved by the Asian Pattern Committee, but other upgrades have not yet been agreed, which could even lead to Australia moving to part two of the international cataloguing standards book and being rendered unable to stage international Group races.

Scott said that Australia’s black-type upgrades had been decided on ratings over the past three runnings alone, without discretionary considerations, with a rating of 115 as the threshold for Group 1 categorisation. The Everest has rated 120.5, 120.8 and 120.5 in its past three editions; the All-Star Mile 117.5, 117.3 and 118.3. He added: “Downgrades, we’re starting to work on. First, we’ll do the upgrades, and then the downgrades.”

Traditionally, an independent Pattern committee has made decisions on grading shifts, but the committee has not existed for at least five years, since the outbreak of political wars between New South Wales and Victoria. Instead, the decisions have been made by the eight statutory bodies for each state or territory in Australia, known as the Principal Racing Authorities (PRAs), following a recent rapprochement between New South Wales and Victoria.

Classique Legend winning The TAB Everest, which is being upgraded to a Group 1Credit: Mark Evans / Getty Images

Breeding giant John Messara expressed grave concerns about the upgrades and said the Pattern had fallen victim to a “hijack”.

“I’m surprised by the number of upgrades, and the apparent change in methodology of the Pattern rules, and I fear that it will affect the Australian sport’s reputation internationally,” the Arrowfield owner told ANZ.

“It’s the breeders and the sales companies who established the Pattern system as a cataloguing standard. There seems to be something of a hijack here.

“If you look in a catalogue and see Group 1 races in England and France, they’re highly vaunted things, because they maintain a very high standard in those countries. If the market begins to degrade our Group system, it’ll be a different story here.”

Willow Park Stud’s Glenn Burrows, a former 20-year member of the Pattern committee representing auction houses and breeders, is exasperated that control of the black-type system has fallen into what he feels to be the wrong hands.

“The Pattern is not for PRAs. It’s for breeders, and was introduced by breeders and agents for sales catalogue definitions,” he said.

“The PRAs have stolen the Pattern. In the US, the Pattern committee has five or six breeders on it. It’s not run by people who do tit-for-tat deals, which is exactly what looks like has happened with this latest round of upgrades here.”

Burrows fears for the futures of Australian breeders if international buyers lose confidence in the Australian product due to a heavily distorted black-type pyramid.

“The breeders and agents have fought so hard to get international investment and international credibility. It’s phenomenal now at yearling sales, the percentage of yearlings that are bought by people offshore,” he said.

“So we, as breeders and agents, have a vested financial interest in the Pattern. PRAs are just on a wage and they couldn’t care less about the international investment in yearling sales. They’ve just hijacked the Pattern to advertise their own races and say, ‘Look at us'."

Leading trainer Gai Waterhouse said the latest raft of upgrades was short-sighted.

“I don't think it’s really been thought out, and maybe done with one thing in mind, for New South Wales to get more,” she told ANZ. “If you have too many black-type races, it’s not a good thing.

“It’s important to make sure you’re upgrading the right races. Upgrading The Everest was an obvious one, but you’ve got to look at it seriously. There are also certain races that have lost an amount of importance, so it’s important to downgrade races, too.”

This story was originally published by ANZ Bloodstock News. For complete coverage of racing and bloodstock in Australia and New Zealand, download ANZ Bloodstock News every day

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