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Quality Control Requirements For North American Non-Listed Black-Type Races Will Increase In 2025

Effective Jan. 1, 2025, the North American International Cataloguing Standards Committee (NAICSC) will increase the minimum Race Quality Scores (RQS) for non-Listed black-type races in SITA catalogues due to the gradual growth in the ratio of those races to the total number of races run, the organization said via a release by The Jockey Club News Service.

The RQS is a composite number compiled by using speed figures for the first four finishers in each race over three years. Four speed figures are used to compile the RQS and are provided by Bloodstock Research Information Systems (BRIS), Daily Racing Form (Beyer), Equibase and Thoro-Graph.

The non-Listed black-type races are divided into six age/sex categories for the purpose of determining black type using the RQS. They are 2-year-old males, 2-year-old females, 3-year-old males, 3-year-old females, 3/up males, and 3/up females. Each age/sex category has a minimum RQS that must be achieved for a stakes race to be awarded the black type designation.

The current minimum and revised RQS for each age/sex category is listed below:

Age/Sex                           Min. RQS         Revised RQS (2025)
2-year-old males                 35.0                        36.8
2-year-old females 29.0 30.5
3-year-old males                 54.0                        56.7
3-year-old females 45.3 47.6
3/up males 63.7 66.9
3/up females 55.8 58.6

Click here for additional information.

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Catching Up with 2004 Breeders’ Cup Classic Winner Ghostzapper

Horses aren't supposed to be able to do what Ghostzapper did. The Hall of Famer was so dazzling that the 128 Beyer Speed Figure he registered in the GIII Philip H. Iselin H.–still the highest figure in the history of American racing at a route–isn't even remembered as one of his top races. Some people might count his GI Vosburgh sprinting at three against older horses as one of his best, others might prefer his GI Woodward battle over eventual Horse of the Year Saint Liam, and still others might best remember his spectacular daylight GI Met Mile win coming off a seven-month layoff. But there's no denying his GI Breeders' Cup Classic, his first and only time at 10 furlongs, left such an impression he still holds the stakes record of 1:59.02, having run the fastest Classic in the 39-year history of the Breeders' Cup.

Javier Castellano was aboard Ghostzapper for every one of those remarkable performances.

“He was one of the biggest horses and one of the best in my career,” said Castellano. “I say that because you don't see too many horses that do what he did. This horse was particularly diversified at distances. From sprint to long distances, he did everything. He won the sprint races, he won at 1 1/4 miles, he won at a mile, at all the distances. It's hard to stretch out a horse from six furlongs to long and back again, but he did it and he won. He did everything.

“He still has [the Breeders' Cup] record. We're talking about 19 years ago and nobody has broken that record. It was against all the best horses in the world at the time: Funny Cide, Azeri, Pleasantly Perfect.

“He's pretty amazing, such a special horse. He put me on another level in my career. People didn't know who Javier Castellano was at the time and for me to ride the best horse, he opened the door for myself and my family. He opened the door for my career. He's such a special horse. I love him.

“He's just amazing. I'm blessed, thankful, grateful to have ridden such a special horse. Mr. Frankel told me Ghostzapper was the best horse he'd trained in all his life. For him to say that, with all those good horses he had, was pretty amazing.”

Ghostzapper (2000 bay horse, Awesome Again–Baby Zip, by Relaunch)

Lifetime record: Horse of the Year, Ch. older male, MGISW, 11-9-0-1, $3,446,120

Breeders' Cup connections: B-Adena Springs (KY); O-Stronach Stables; T-Robert Frankel; J-Javier Castellano.

Current location: Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa, Paris, Ky.

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Andy Beyer Joins TDN Writers’ Room to Handicap the Kentucky Derby

Andy Beyer, the longtime racing columnist for the Washington Post and the creator of the Beyer Speed Figures that appear in the Daily Racing Form, is never short of opinions, especially when it comes to who will win the GI Kentucky Derby. With the race right around the corner, we asked Beyer to give us his thoughts on the race and share his handicapping acumen on the TDN Writers' Room podcast, which is presented by Keeneland. Beyer was this week's Green Group Guest of the Week.

After some spirited and amusing debate about how to pronounce Forte's name, Beyer said he's no fan of that horse, saying that Forte (Violence) “won't hit the board.”

“I don't like him,” he said. “I don't like him because the name issue grates on me every time I hear it. He is not historically what we look for in the Kentucky Derby, which is a horse on the upgrade coming into the Derby. He clearly doesn't fit that profile. Yes, he is trained by Todd Pletcher. But as we know, Todd's forte is not training horses to win the Derby. His record in this race is two for 62. So I don't think you get any extra credit for being in the Pletcher barn in this race. I want no part of Forte. I don't think he'll hit the board.”

Then who does he like? It's Derma Sotogake (Jpn) (Mind Your Biscuits).

“I am looking for a history making Japanese victory on Saturday night with Derma Sotogake,” Beyer said. “It's not a great Derby. But what makes it really interesting to me is the Japanese presence. And I've been looking a lot at this and I think that Japan is really on the brink of becoming the number one power in world horse racing, eclipsing even Great Britain and the United States. It's going to happen at the present rate eventually. And the coming out party just might be Saturday.”

Beyer said he is so bullish on the Japanese horses that he even gave a long look to longshot Continuar (Jpn) (Drefong).

“I was going to pick Continuar as my 50 to 1 bomber just because he is trained by the top Japanese trainer and was really going to be under the radar,” Beyer said. “But he evidently has not trained that well since he's been at Churchill.”

Based on the Beyer figures, the field for the GI Kentucky Oaks is among the slowest ever. Predictably, Beyer didn't have anything good to say about that race.

“I was so depressed looking at the figures in the Oaks that I just haven't even focused on it yet,” he said. “The idea that nobody in that field has run a figure over 91 is just embarrassing. I've never seen a race this famous look so bad from the speed figure standpoint.”

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by Coolmore,https://lanesend.com/ the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders, 1/st Racing, WinStar Farm, XBTV and https://www.threechimneys.com/ West Point Thoroughbreds, podcast regulars Zoe Cadman, Randy Moss and Bill Finley ran through the entire 20-horse field, giving their opinions on each starter. Finley picked Tapit Trice (Tapit) to win, Moss selected Derma Sotogoake and Cadman gave the nod to Practical Move (Practical Joke). As was the case with Beyer, none were particularly high on Forte.

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Randy Moss Joins Bettor Things With Joe Bianca

In the second episode of his handicapping-focused podcast Bettor Things With Joe Bianca, the host welcomed popular NBC Sports horse racing television analyst Randy Moss, where the two shared a drink and engaged in an expansive, free-flowing discussion on all things racing, sports and betting. Recently returned from China where he covered the 2022 Winter Olympics for NBC, Moss talked about his upbringing in Hot Springs where he'd sneak into Oaklawn Park, his work in creating the revolutionary Moss Pace Figures, how he ended up covering football for NFL Network, what he thinks the future of data in horse racing looks like and much more.

Later, in honor of Moss's past work with the NFL, Bianca gave out future bets to make for the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft, set to be conducted in Las Vegas in late April. Check out the video podcast on YouTube here or on the TDN Video Podcast page; the audio-only version can be found here or on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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