Interstate racing bodies are unlikely to acknowledge the upgrades made to 12 races in New South Wales, in a move which may have consequences for horses looking to qualify or move up the order of entry to the Melbourne Cup.
A dozen races in the New South Wales spring were announced last week as either being given black-type for the first time or promoted in grade.
That came after The Everest and All-Star Mile were granted Group 1 status, something that seems to have finally received the correct international stamp on the eve of the $20 million sprint after a week of uncertainty.
Other states were set to announce their stakes upgrades this week but have opted to put their announcements on hold after questions were raised over whether the races would be properly recognised internationally.
The Tapp-Craig, contested at Rosehill last week, was the first of the NSW-promoted races to be run. It was given Listed status, but it subsequently emerged that the winner Anode would not be awarded internationally recognised black-type status as the new Racing Australia black type guidelines had yet to be ratified.
Bren O’Brien
The exact status of three upgraded races to be run on The Everest program on Saturday is under question.
The Silver Eagle and the ATC St Leger were given black-type for the first time as Group 3s, while the Reginald Allen Stakes was promoted from Listed to Group 3 status.
But The Straight understands other states will not recognise the new black type status of the Silver Eagle and the ATC St Leger.
It is understood that Racing Victoria and the Victoria Racing Club have made a call which would impact horses progressing from the St Leger to the Melbourne Cup.
Because the 2600-metre race is not viewed as having black-type, a victory would not be sufficient to pass the first ballot clause for the Melbourne Cup. That has relevance to just one runner in the St Leger, the Matthew Smith-trained Waltham.
However, there are five further horses in the St Leger who are still in the nominations for the Melbourne Cup. Because the VRC would not view a victory in the race as black-type win, those horses are not eligible to be re-handicapped.
Alegron, Athabascan and Military Mission are all inside the top 24 on the ballot order and would get a run if the Melbourne Cup was run today, but could slip outside the field if overtaken by other horses.
Tim Rowe
The Chris Waller-trained Etna Rosso (29th) and the Kiwi-trained Trust In You (33rd) are further down the order of entry and may need a re-handicap to get into the Cup field. They will not be eligible to be re-handicapped if they win the St Leger.
The prospect of other states refusing to recognise the upgraded status of the New South Wales races has the potential to further politicise the Pattern discussion, which has dominated discussion on racing circles over the past two weeks.
Racing NSW has been contacted for comment.
