6 Horse Races Upgraded To Grade 1 In 2009

Triple Crown Horse Races Results

Summer Bird becomes the Belmont Stakes winner and spoils jockey Calvin Borel's bid to become the first jockey to win the Triple Crown aboard different horses.

With the Triple Crown races over, horse racing fans can look forward to the summer racing season. Lined up this summer is the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on August 2 and the Travers Stakes at Saratoga on August 29.

2009 Breeders' Cup World Championships at Santa Anita Park

The 2009 Breeders' Cup, thoroughbred racing's most prestigious event, consisting of 14 Breeders' Cup races and $25.5 million in purses, will be held on November 6-7, at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California.

Posted on Tuesday, November 25th, 2008

Two Breeders’ Cup races were among the six 2009 horse races elevated to Grade 1 stakes status by the American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association.

The $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint and $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile were upgraded from Grade 2 to Grade 1 by the committee, which gave 488 horse races graded-stakes status next year, an increase of seven.

Other horse races bumped to Grade 1 were the Jamaica Handicap at Belmont Park, the Pat O’Brien Handicap and Clement L. Hirsch Handicap at Del Mar and the Vinery Madison Stakes at Keeneland.

A total of 13 graded races were upgraded, including seven new Grade 2 horse races. The committee also gave 10 new horse races Grade 3 designations.

The Suburban Handicap at Belmont Park was downgraded from Grade 1 to Grade 2.

Also the Kentucky Derby Trial, which lost its graded stakes status a few years ago, will be a Grade 3 race next year. The Kentucky Derby Trial held at Churchill Downs during the last weekend in April has been a horse’s last chance to get enough graded-stakes earnings to qualify for the Kentucky Derby.

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