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New Chairman and 2022 European Flat Black-Type Programme Changes Announced by EPC

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 outgoing EPC Chairman Brian Kavanagh, whose term ended on Jan. 31,2022. Morris will serve for a five-year term.

Kavanagh said, “It has been a privilege to serve as Chairman of the EPC and to work with a group of dedicated and passionate individuals. The strength of the European Pattern is reflected annually in the Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings and while its work is regulatory in nature, the Committee has overseen many positive initiatives in European racing, for example in relation to opportunities for top-class fillies and mares, the development of Longines Irish Champions Weekend, Qatar Prix de l'Arc weekend and QIPCO British Champions Day, the three-year-old sprint programme and opportunities for stayers.

“The authority of the Committee comes from the participation and buy-in of all of the major racing nations in Europe and is one of the best examples I know of international racing authorities working together towards a common objective.”

Kavanagh added, “The Committee has chosen wisely in selecting Jason Morris to take over the role as Chairman. He has great expertise in this area and a lifetime interest in the development of quality racing throughout Europe. I wish him and the entire Committee all the best in the future.”

Dominic Gardiner-Hill, Head of Handicapping for the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), Garry O'Gorman and Eric Le Guen, Senior Handicappers in Ireland and France respectively, are the EPC European nominees to the Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings Committee.

The EPC is also undertaking a full review of the progress made on developing and enhancing the black-type programme for the staying horse at its next meeting, which is scheduled for the summer of 2022. In addition, the EPC also agreed to new measures to aid the emerging racing nations in the European and Mediterranean Horseracing Federation to have the chance to stage a listed race, providing the race in question meets an agreed set of criteria.

The following changes were made to the Irish Pattern and listed races:

Listed Silken Glider S. upgraded to Group 3 status
Listed Savel Beg upgraded to Group 3 status
G3 Vintage Crop S. downgraded to listed status
G3 Diamond S. downgraded to listed status
New six-furlong listed race for filles (3yo/up)

Across Europe, other countries' races were downgraded as follows:

Germany:
- G2 Diana Trial downgraded to Group 3
- G3 Silberne Pietsche downgraded to listed
Italy:
- Listed Citta di Napoli loses listed status
- Listed Archidamia loses listed status
- Listed Chiusura loses listed status
Norway:
- G3 Oslo Cup downgraded to listed
Sweden:
- Listed Stockholm Fillies' S. loses listed status
Turkey:
- G2 Topkapi Trophy downgraded to Group 3

There are also a total of 41 Pattern and listed races that are at risk of potential downgrades in 2023 depending on their performance in 2022. These races are broken down by country as follows: GB (1), France (10), Germany (12), Ireland (3), Italy (14), and Turkey (1).

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Forty-Eight Hour Declarations Made Permanent In Ireland

Forty-eight hour declarations, adopted in Ireland from June 2020 at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, will become permanent after receiving the vote of approval from the board of Horse Racing Ireland.

“The HRI Board accepted that there were many positive reasons for retaining 48-hour declarations on a permanent basis,” said Jason Morris, director of racing at Horse Racing Ireland. “Significant commercial, marketing and operational benefits have been identified including the promotion of our sport by media and the betting industry.

“48-hour declarations are considered essential by our media rights partners when it comes to maximising our income streams from international markets, thereby driving revenues for racecourses as well as increasing the exposure of our horses for export purposes. Their permanent retention had support from associations representing racecourses, owners, and stable staff, all of whom identified the positive benefits of being able to plan further ahead. The Jockeys Association and IHRB Senior Medical Officer are also strongly supportive from a health and welfare perspective as it gives more notice to jockeys of their required riding weights and doubles the time available for them to manage any required weight loss.

“While there has been an anticipated increase in non-runners, the overall effect has not been significant as our reserve system allows for replacements–the net percentage of non-runners has only increased by 0.10 runners per race from 2019 to 2021 against the background of average field sizes increasing overall from 11.5 to 12.3 runners per race over this period.

“We acknowledge the concerns of the trainers and owners associations around the timetable for making entries and we will explore with the IRTA and AIRO whether beneficial changes can be made to the current entry schedule.”

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Dundalk Adds Four Fixtures

Four additional Dundalk fixtures have been added for early 2021 to cope with the recent high number of entries at the track and the significant number of horses that have been balloted out of races at Dundalk’s last three meetings.

The additional meetings will take place on Jan. 11 (afternoon), Jan. 20 (evening), Feb. 1 (afternoon) and Feb. 17 (afternoon).

Jason Morris, HRI director of racing, said, “We have had representations from the Irish Racehorse Trainers Association, the Restricted Trainers Association and the Association of Irish Racehorse Owners, all of whom have expressed serious concern. We are therefore pleased to be able to provide these additional opportunities during January and February to augment the existing programme. We envisage scheduling four or five races at each of these new meetings to allow for potential divides of multiple races to create eight-race cards at the additional fixtures. This approach has worked well in the past.

“We are grateful to Dundalk Racecourse for agreeing to contribute towards the funding of these meetings, as is the case with any additional fixtures allocated to racecourses. The dates and times for these meetings have been reviewed with SIS to identify the most beneficial slots from a betting turnover perspective and we are grateful to them for supporting the scheduling of these additional meetings. We have also liaised closely with Racing TV to ensure that we are maximising broadcast coverage for these new fixtures.”

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