Arion Report

For each country, the latest 30 black type races are shown. The listings are updated nightly, so for countries with many black type races, it is recommended that you view these pages regularly as races will disappear from the listings quickly. Note also, for Canada & USA, only the graded results are recorded here as there is no definitive pre-season listing of their non-graded black type races.

Stakes Races - a definition

The wording "stakes race" used in connection with cataloguing is synonymous with "black type race" and encompasses Group races, Graded races and Listed races.

The wording derives its origin from a type of racing in North America. In that context, a stakes races is a race whereby the owners contribute money towards the race stake money. Generally, this relates to a race which closes more than 48 hours before the race is due to be run. Prior to the mid-1960s, the North American cataloguing style was a tabulated style somewhat similar to that universally used nowadays, whereas the rest of the world tended to use a run-on style. During the early 1960s, the North Americans decided to add a feature to their style of pedigree - horses which had won a stakes race would be output in bold capitals and horses which had run 2nd or 3rd would be in u/lower case bold. To handle racing outside North America which did not have an equivalent of the NA stakes race, a listing of eligible races in foreign countries was produced.

The new cataloguing style was an immediate hit, and other countries began to adopt that style. The problem however was how to clearly and unequivocally identify the black type races. In 1984, the major racing nations produced the International Cataloguing Standards Booklet, and introduced moves to rationalise the various standards into a single uniform standard. In doing so, certain of the NA stakes races were dropped from earning black type.

The period of rationalisation took perhaps 10 years, during which the standard changed on a yearly basis. In more recent times, the situation has settled and a consistent standard has been established. All countries whose races earn black type are listed in the Cataloguing Standards Booklet. The only races which are not explicitly shown are the North American races under a certain monetary value.

Group & Graded & Listed Races

During the early 1960s, the major European racing nations introduced a racing Pattern. The major non-handicap races were assigned a Pattern of 1, 2 or 3. As the use of black type in cataloguing took hold, so the European idea of further classification of races spread. For the European racing, the Pattern races were renamed as Group Races. North America followed to some degree calling its races Graded Races, but vitally it decided extend it use to handicap races.

While North America decided to extend the use of group/graded race status to handicaps, it also decided to limits its use to races which were not restricted for entry by anything other than age or sex. Hence, many major Canadian races which were restricted to just Canadian-breds were deemed not eligible for group/graded status. The same applied to Japanese racing.

Listed races are those black type races which are in the International Cataloguing Standards Booklet but which are not group or graded. Note: there are additional North American races which are not listed in the Booklet but which do earn black type. Technically they are not listed races but they are black type races.

Variations on the ICSC Standards

While from a purists point of view it may have been acceptable to rank all Canadian and Japanese black type races as just listed, it does not help a person from outside that region who is trying to judge the relative merit of races. For that reason, we have replaced the listed indicator (L) with the race's local grouping in the style (Jpn-1, Can-3, etc). Note, these are listed races - the indicator is purely to assist in judging the race's merit.

In New Zealand and Australia, the normal practice is to output all metropolitan wins and placings on a catalogue page, whereas elsewhere around the world, only black type performances (in the main) are output. This presents a problem for the uninitiated in determining what is a black type race and what is not. For that reason, all black type races are marked as group or listed.