The American Graded Stakes Committee has upgraded one Grade 2 stakes to a Grade 1 while downgrading five Grade 1 races to Grade 2 races, the committee announced on Friday as part of its annual effort to review all eligible stakes in the U.S. for grading. The race upgraded to a Grade 1 was the Stephen Foster Stakes at Churchill Downs, while the downgraded Grade 1s were the Cigar Mile at Aqueduct, the Woodward Stakes at the Belmont at Aquueduct meet, the Clark Stakes at Churchill, the Starlet at Los Alamitos, and the Rodeo Drive Stakes at Santa Anita Park. In all, the committee assigned grades to 440 stakes races, nine fewer than were assigned grades in 2022. The grades are assigned by a committee that reviews the recent histories of all races that are eligible to receive a grade, which, this year, was any race run as a stakes that had a minimum open purse of $75,000. That amounted to 901 eligible stakes. The number of graded stakes run in the U.S. has remained resilient despite a dramatic pullback in the number of races run at U.S. tracks. Last year, four more races received upgrades than downgrades, but the committee assigned five fewer grades in 2021 compared to 2019 (a large number of races were canceled or ran at different times on the calendar during the first pandemic year). The last time that the committee reduced the number of graded races by nine was for the 2018 year, when 455 races received grades, compared to 464 in 2017. Three races were upgraded to Grade 2 from Grade 3: the Beaumont and Franklin stakes at Keeneland and the Ladies Sprint at Kentucky Downs. Seven races were downgraded from Grade 2 to Grade 3: the Sorrento at Del Mar; the Dinner Party at Pimlico; the Tampa Bay Derby at Tampa Bay Downs; and four stakes at Santa Anita: the Monrovia, the San Carlos, the San Marcos, and the Santa Ynez. Four races received upgrades from Listed to Grade 3: the Manila at Belmont; the Blame and Shawnee at Churchill; and the Music City at Kentucky Downs. Twelve races were downgraded from Grade 3 to Listed, including four races run at the tracks operated by the New York Racing Association and four races run at Santa Anita. Despite the declines this year, the number of graded stakes has increased dramatically over the past 20 years as a ratio of the total races run, despite steep declines in the number of races at U.S. tracks. In 2002, the ratio of graded stakes races to total races was less than 1 per 100 races run, at 0.895. With the racing industry and the foal crop in constant contraction over the past 20 years, the ratio has gradually crept up, and in 2021 it hit 1.326 graded stakes per 100 races, a jump of 48.2 percent over the 2002 ratio. The Graded Stakes Committee on Friday also confirmed that Churchill Downs has asked the committee to review a proposal to retain the grades on the Grade 1 Arlington Million, the Grade 1 Beverly D, and the Grade 2 Secretariat if they are run next year at Colonial Downs in Virginia, a track Churchill bought this year. The races had previously been run at Arlington in Chicago, which Churchill shuttered this year. Andy Schweigardt, the secretary for the committee, said that the committee members will consider the request individually and then discuss the request at a meeting “before Christmas.” He said that per the committee’s bylaws, the request would be considered in light of provisions that call for the grades to be retained as long as the “new venue is in the same region as the old racetrack and the name, conditions, calendar date, and purse of the relocated event are substantially similar to previous years.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.