AMID the excitement of the Arc de Triomphe meeting, various yearling sales, the Dewhurst Stakes, the Fillies’ Mile and British Champions Day there appeared quite a damning statistic which didn’t seem to attract the attention that it merited.

The forum for this statistic was the conference of the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities which took place in Paris the day after Enable bagged her second consecutive Arc.

It was at this conference that Brian Kavanagh, a member of the executive council of the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities, speaking on the subject of the quality control of racing, revealed that in 2017 49% of Group 1 races run globally did not meet the criteria for that standard.

There is quite a variance among different jurisdictions as to the extent that this occurred. It was reported that 90% of the top-level races run in South America fell short of the required standard.

Even so, the first figure should provide pause for thought and it raises the question as to whether the pattern race programme in Europe is in need of some tightening up and revision.

EXPANSION

The last 20 years have seen a significant expansion in certain areas of the pattern race programme. One that springs to mind is the enhanced range of Group 1 opportunities for fillies which took place well over a decade ago and has possibly played its part in the extraordinary run of success enjoyed by fillies in the Arc de Triomphe.

More recently, the worthwhile introduction of a meaningful programme for three-year-old sprinters has led to a series of race upgrades headed by the introduction of the Commonwealth Cup.

Furthermore, a substantially enhanced pattern race programme for stayers has taken place over the last couple of years.

The changes and enhancements mentioned above are worthwhile but the point to be made is that there is clearly an issue with other areas of the pattern when so many top-level races are falling short of the required standard.

Perhaps the number of Group 1s on offer in other spheres needs to be addressed.

SCHEDULING

This calls to mind a curious situation this weekend where, on Saturday, Doncaster plays host to the Group 1 Vertem Futurity Trophy over a mile, while on the same afternoon at Chantilly, there is another two-year-old Group 1 contest which comes in the shape of the Criterium de Saint-Cloud over 10 furlongs.

As if that wasn’t enough, Chantilly stages another two-year-old Group 1 on Sunday in the Criterium International over seven furlongs.

Surely it is this sort of scheduling which leads to races failing short of the criteria that they are meant to fulfil and this in turn detracts from what should be the very notable feat of reaching the frame in a Group 1.

It could very easily be the case that events this weekend and well into the future will show that this year’s races will prove to be well up to standard.

However, the simple reality is that these three races should be spaced out better, or a severe alternative is that the two races in France be combined into one over an intermediate trip.

The history of the Criterium International is interesting as it came into being in 2001 after the scrapping of the Prix de la Salamandre.

The demise of the latter race, brought about by a restructuring of the Group 1 programme for two-year-olds in France, was always hard to fathom.

The Salamandre was always noteworthy as the first seven furlongs Group 1 of the season for juveniles in Europe and its roll of honour in the 15 years prior to its demise contained such luminaries as Miesque, Machiavellian, Arazi, Zafonic, Pennekamp and Giant’s Causeway. Perhaps a return to days of yore wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

When you reconcile the number of Group 1s that fall short of the recommended standards with the sort of scheduling that is taking place this weekend, it’s not all that hard to see how a slippage in quality and prestige can come about.