After several years of trying, Delaware Park finally has a Grade 1 race again. The
Delaware Handicap which is the crown jewel of the meet has earned the highest grade
you can earn in American Thoroughbred racing. Also being upgraded is the Hopeful at
Saratoga which was run as a G2 this year. Downgraded from G1 status where the
Charlie Whittingham, Gazelle and Santa Monica.
As someone whose hometrack is Delaware, I am very happy to see the DelCap be upgraded. It's been well deserved for the past few years, especially after this year's edition where Royal Delta went on to win the Beldame and BC Ladies Classic, and Love and Pride won the Personal Ensign and Zenyatta. Realistically, next year's field could be one of the best if all the major players (RD, Questing, My Miss Auriela, Tiz Miz Sue, Love and Pride) all show up. That will be awesome! Of course hopefully all of them will stay healthy. The prep for the DelCap, the Obeah will remain a G3, however I think if the winner or runner up in the race does well in the DelCap next year, it will get G2 status for 2014.
The Hopeful prob. should not have been downgraded for this year in the first place, but will be back to G1 status next year. What helped was that Currency Swap and Trinniberg the 1-2 from last year tore up the 3yo Sprint division with the latter ending his season with the BC Sprint title. And even though American Graded Stakes Committee looks at the first four finishers, I'm sure they also looked at this year's record of the 6th place finisher too. As that was none other then I'll Have Another. This year's Hopeful featured BC Juvenile winner Shanghai Bobby and Dover Stakes winner Vegas No Show (1/2 brother to Bullsbay).
As for the races that where downgraded, the Gazelle it was time. Since moving from Belmont to Aqueduct the field had been getting worse and worse. With making it now a G2, the quality could be more in line with the race conditions. I feel bad for the Whittingham, so that was a bit of suprise that was downgraded. As for the Santa Monica, that was a bit of a toughie as well since that was the only G1 for female sprinters on dirt in California (that is when the BC is not in the state).
Overall, the AGSC made to me the right moves. One of the hottest races for Older Females gets to be a G1, the premier Summer juvenile race is back on top and a race filled normally of second stringers was downgraded. So what do you guys think? Leave a comment for me to approve or tweet me at Twitter (@furlongdrive).
As someone whose hometrack is Delaware, I am very happy to see the DelCap be upgraded. It's been well deserved for the past few years, especially after this year's edition where Royal Delta went on to win the Beldame and BC Ladies Classic, and Love and Pride won the Personal Ensign and Zenyatta. Realistically, next year's field could be one of the best if all the major players (RD, Questing, My Miss Auriela, Tiz Miz Sue, Love and Pride) all show up. That will be awesome! Of course hopefully all of them will stay healthy. The prep for the DelCap, the Obeah will remain a G3, however I think if the winner or runner up in the race does well in the DelCap next year, it will get G2 status for 2014.
The Hopeful prob. should not have been downgraded for this year in the first place, but will be back to G1 status next year. What helped was that Currency Swap and Trinniberg the 1-2 from last year tore up the 3yo Sprint division with the latter ending his season with the BC Sprint title. And even though American Graded Stakes Committee looks at the first four finishers, I'm sure they also looked at this year's record of the 6th place finisher too. As that was none other then I'll Have Another. This year's Hopeful featured BC Juvenile winner Shanghai Bobby and Dover Stakes winner Vegas No Show (1/2 brother to Bullsbay).
As for the races that where downgraded, the Gazelle it was time. Since moving from Belmont to Aqueduct the field had been getting worse and worse. With making it now a G2, the quality could be more in line with the race conditions. I feel bad for the Whittingham, so that was a bit of suprise that was downgraded. As for the Santa Monica, that was a bit of a toughie as well since that was the only G1 for female sprinters on dirt in California (that is when the BC is not in the state).
Overall, the AGSC made to me the right moves. One of the hottest races for Older Females gets to be a G1, the premier Summer juvenile race is back on top and a race filled normally of second stringers was downgraded. So what do you guys think? Leave a comment for me to approve or tweet me at Twitter (@furlongdrive).
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