Who decides which races are Group One, Group Two or Group Three?

Our stateside friends playing the best payout online casino usa, have asked for a post on Group races… so your wish is my command! The classification of Group One, Group Two and Group Three races, collectively known as ‘Pattern’ races, is controlled by the European Pattern Committee (EPC), whose members are Great Britain, Ireland, France and Germany.

The European Pattern was introduced in 1971, to avoid the possibility of prestigious French races being restricted to horses trained in France. Casino en ligne en france fans may be well aware of this. Previously, penalties in such races were determined by the monetary value of the races a horse had won which, granted that French prize money was much higher than elsewhere in Europe, often left them at the mercy of foreign-trained horses. Instead, Pattern races were arranged, by importance, such that penalties could be based on quality, rather than monetary value.

Under normal circumstances, the EPC monitors the quality of Pattern races, based on a rolling three-year average of the official ratings of the first four finishers; in a Group One race, for example, the average official rating must be maintained at 115, or higher. If a Pattern race fails to fulfil or, indeed, exceeds expectations, it can be downgraded or upgraded at the discretion of the EPC. However, in the wake of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the EPC has announced to that no such changes, one way or the other, will be made in 2021.