What races are referred to as Group Races on the flat?

Question

This is not a trick question! I'm a beginner. How do I identify this type of race?

Answer 1

Racing is split into different levels.  The top levels or Pattern races include group 1, group 2 and group 3 after this comes the Listed races then the handicaps down to the lowly sellers and claiming stakes.  Thats why it can be profitable to follow a potential group 1 horse while he starts off in handicaps and follow it as it climbs the ranks.  A good example of this was last season with 'Purple Moon' ran very well in handicaps last season and should progress to pattern races this season coming.

Handicaps are where all the weights are different in an attempt to get all horses to pass the winning line together, while Group 1 horses have level weights, so the best horse, on the day, should win

Answer 2

If you are looking at either a programme of the races on the card or a record of past races it will say after the name of the race what class of race it is. As stated above, it could be any of the 3 Group races, a Listed race which includes a very few restricted handicaps - these are Class1 - or Classes 2 to 7, which includes all other categories of races. In National Hunt racing the word Grade is used as a comparative term to Group.

Answer 3

There are too many Group/Graded races to list on here!

Basically Group races and Listed races are collectively reffered to as "The Pattern" or "Black-Type Races".  The reason they are known as black-type races is because when you look at a sales catalogue racehorses, the horses that have won Group/Listed races are listed in "bold" type.

This is last year's Tattersalls October Pt 1 Yearling sale catalogue, look at the pages and see what I mean about "black-type":  http://tattersalls.com/cat/october/oct20...

There are 4 levels to the Pattern: Group/Grade 1, Group/Grade 2, Group/Grade 3 and Listed races.  Group 1 races are the highest and carry the most prize money.

The grading system is decided by the Pattern Committee.  Each year they look at races and decide which races deserve to have Group status, and which need to be downgraded.  A race has to earn the right to be a Group/Graded race and it takes at least 3 years to assess each race.

This is the website for the European Pattern Committee:

http://www.horseracingintfed.com/aboutDi...

Hope that helps you somewhat, but it is a long and fairly complex subject.

Answer 4

group 1 on the flat. the  classics eg! the derby 1 and 2 thousand gns the oaks and st leger