The list is a good start, but improvements should be made for future years.

by Brett Sturma

Earlier this week, the much-anticipated list of graded stake races in harness racing was unveiled for 2025. An idea that was in the works for decades, harness racing will now join the rest of the international racing community in having stakes races graded to signify each race’s importance.

For the inaugural list, grading for the stake races were determined nearly exclusively by purse amount. And while purse amounts are certainly a way to provide standardization for the committee as a baseline, using that as an overly simplistic criteria alone, doesn’t show a complete picture of all stakes.

Where my own mind starts is figuring out the purpose of grading the stakes races. If it’s to assign more value to a horse either in future race sales or in breeding through winning races at the highest graded levels — which I believe is the intent — then there needs to be added importance to races based on historical nature and corresponding prestige. One only has to glance over the graded stakes list for a minute and it’s apparent where races that have clear sire-making significance are rated lower than others with far less post-race meaning.

An easy example of this can be seen in the open pace division. Here, the William Haughton Memorial hosted at The Meadowlands since 1994 is listed as a G2. Unquestionably, and even more-so when compared to where other stakes in the division have been designated, the Haughton is a signature race for open pacers and should have G1 status. The list of winners in the stake is a who’s-who of the very best open pacers over the last 30 years and was further highlighted when it was the race of the year in 2022 when Bulldog Hanover broke the 1:46 time barrier. But, presumably, because the purse of the race has dropped from its high of $702,000 in 2010 to last year’s purse of $428,000 it’s not listed as a G1.

The Haughton as a G2 places it on par with all other G2 stakes listed in the open pace division, including for example, the Aria Invitational, a newer race hosted at Yonkers as part of the Yonkers International Trot undercard. There’s just no comparison of top to bottom between the horses in that race and the horses in not only the Haughton, but other G2 and G3 designated races throughout the division. It’s not meant to disparage horses who have competed in the Aria, as nice horses have won it the past two years, and I’ll take it a step further by including the G1-rated Borgata series in this point too – not only is the competition lesser quality but these simply aren’t races that will increase a horse’s value the same way that winning against true summertime FFA horses in 1:47 will do.

There are similar misses that could be debated throughout all the other divisions and I won’t belabor the point and go through every one, but here are just a couple of others that stood out to me right off the bat.

In the older trotting mare division, there are only seven total graded stakes in all and the only other G1 in addition to the Breeders Crown is the Dayton Oaks. It’s been running for three years now with a purse of $250,000 and was won the last two years by Jiggy Jog S. I guess you could argue if the race at Dayton carries a true G1 significance, but the larger issue is when comparing it to the Six Pack stake in the division which is a G3. Like the Dayton Oaks, the Six Pack has been won the last two years by Jiggy Jog S and was won before that by Bella Bellini and prior to that Atlanta. The list goes on all the way back to Buck I St Pat in 2009. Clearly, the Six Pack carries just as much significance if not more than the Dayton Oaks. But purely because of purse mechanisms, one is incorrectly rated two grades higher than the other. As an aside, the list reveals how few stakes opportunities there are for older mare trotters.

Additionally, there are inconsistencies throughout the list. In some divisions, the Matron stakes at Dover is considered a G3 and in some cases it’s considered a G2. Same thing with the FanDuel Championships. In two divisions it’s a G2 and in two other divisions it’s a G3 (those races should all be at absolute minimum a G2, by the way).

What also makes little sense is how races were distributed by grade within each division. Meaning, neither the 2-year-old open pacers or 2-year-old open trotters have any G2’s whatsoever – how is that possible? It’s either G1 or G3, and I think that points out another shortcoming of using purses only where if you’re a 2-year-old male there are zero G2s to race in. I can suggest at least one easy fix. In the 2-year-old open trot, the William Wellwood should be a G2 and not a G1. This race in recent years has served as a precursor to the Mohawk Million which is correctly a G1, but it would make more sense for the Wellwood to be a G2 to start to have the races distributed more evenly across the grades. 

Despite what I think should be a downgrade to the Wellwood, races in the list at Woodbine Mohawk Park, along with The Meadowlands are understated across the board. Winning major stakes at these tracks carry more significance than their current graded designations.

If there is a direct suggestion that I’d offer to the committee, it would be to go deeper in future evaluations. Respectfully, it requires no harness racing knowledge to categorize races by purse amounts, as was done here – anyone could have done that. A highly-credentialed group makes up the committee, and subsequent revisions to the grading system should leverage their industry expertise and take into account the historical nature of the races based on the quality of horses who have competed in and won each of the stakes.

Lastly, what the list does do is formally kill the notion of a harness racing Triple Crown. On the trotting side, one of the three races is listed as a G2. One the pacing side, two out of the three Triple Crown races are listed as only G2s, with only the Little Brown Jug listed as the sole G1.

I’ve written here in the past on how harness racing’s Triple Crowns have lost relevance and any real meaning, and this list proves that. But now that there is a formal grading system, perhaps this can be the beginning of a brand-new triple crown system and an opportunity to re-invent what it looks like. One that consists exclusively of agreed upon G1s, that are coordinated together and will provide real incentives for horses to pursue a complete triple crown accomplishment.

The graded stakes list was a needed addition to harness racing and while imperfect in its first go-around, hopefully it will be able to evolve and serve the industry well.