Champions Day and Pattern Changes

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Ardross

Senior Jockey
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Aug 8, 2007
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City of York Stakes to be a Group 1

Long Distance Cup also a G1 - ffs please give it a proper name rather than this .

Commonwealth somehow escapes downgrade although it does not meet G1 criteria .

Some meaningless new 2 year old race added to Champions Day no doubt because Newmarket and Doncaster told them to get lost . Over 6f and worth £250000 why not just put the Middle Park in the bin .

Fred Archer Stakes moves to Beverley and is renamed the Charlie Woods Stakes ( who ? )

These are of course EPC changes . The BHA Pattern Committee may make their own later as far as scrapping , downgrading and moving races are concerned as I understand it .
 
I track race names etc for my own data and there's been loads of name changes over the years, locations less so but still happens, even multiple times
 
pawras said:
I track race names etc for my own data and there's been loads of name changes over the years, locations less so but still happens, even multiple times
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Indeed , and one of the reasons why racing in this country loses touch with its customers . Consider for example the number of valuable handicaps with here today gone tomorrow names - do any of them attract the interest of the Stewards, Portland,Cambridgeshire, Lincoln etc ?

I blame the late George Ward for starting the rot.
 
Ardross said:
Indeed , and one of the reasons why racing in this country loses touch with its customers . Consider for example the number of valuable handicaps with here today gone tomorrow names - do any of them attract the interest of the Stewards, Portland,Cambridgeshire, Lincoln etc ?

I blame the late George Ward for starting the rot.
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Yep, no thought about branding or maintaining customer interest.
'IF' any sense was applied the names would follow a naming convention of something like <current sponsor> <permanent name> <race details>
 
Yes, the 'heritage' handicaps should all have names that must be included in any sponsorship.

The one that annoys me most is the John Smiths. I always call it the Magnet Cup. I know that that name stems from a brand of Smiths beer so I can see why there would be no issue with changing the name but it should have a proper name to which a sponsor's name/brand could be added. They could call it something like the Knavesmire Gold Cup for posterity (instead of posteriority) and then vary it to The John Smiths Knavesmire Gold Cup, etc.

Likewise, what most of us call the Whitbread could be the Sandown Gold Cup/Trophy and then the Bet365 Sandown Gold Trophy/Cup/Ladle, etc.

(And I think the big NH handicaps also deserve the word 'Heritage'.)
 
Charlie Woods was a jockey and contemporary of Fred Archer; and being born in Hull, just down the road from Beverley presumably explains the race's change of name

The Ebor Meeting is over-chock with Group 1s and I'd have preferred the G2 Hungerford Stakes - run just a week or so earlier - to have been upgraded.
 
simmo said:
About time we had 7f Group 1 race.
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Newbury and Goodwood will be disappointed-the Hungerford has been an established race for decades.The Lennox is I think a relatively new race but they had ambitions about Group 1 status.
The City of York was a listed race not too long ago -I suppose the fact that it is run at a major festival helped it get the G1 status.
 
Drone said:
Charlie Woods was a jockey and contemporary of Fred Archer; and being born in Hull, just down the road from Beverley presumably explains the race's change of name

The Ebor Meeting is over-chock with Group 1s and I'd have preferred the G2 Hungerford Stakes - run just a week or so earlier - to have been upgraded.
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York invested in it - Newbury didn’t
 
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