Weak fields cost GGF feature race its Grade-3 status

The El Camino Real Derby, a Grade 3 event since 1986, has lost that status for 2018.

In its annual grading session, the American Graded Stakes Committee announced Friday that the El Camino Real Derby — scheduled for Feb. 17 at Golden Gate Fields — would be one of 11 races downgraded from Grade 3 to what’s known as “listed.”

“The quality of the fields weren’t there in the committee’s opinion,” said AGSC spokesman Andrew Schweigardt. “The committee last year had a long discussion about the 3-year-old route division, and the feeling was that the division was over-graded. Two Grade 1s and four Grade 2s were downgraded last year and the push-down effect continued into the Grade 3s this year.”

The grading process takes the most recent five years into consideration and awards points for things like the percentage of graded stakes winners in the fields. The El Camino Real Derby hasn’t attracted many graded stakes winners in recent years, especially with Golden Gate Fields’ switch to a synthetic surface.

“No one verbalized anything about the synthetic track in our meetings,” Schweigardt said.

The Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park in Kentucky, which also has a synthetic surface, retained its Grade 3 status.

“Obviously it was sad news,” Golden Gate Fields racing secretary Patrick Mackey said. “We did not get many points in the past few runnings.”

Golden Gate Fields now has just three Grade 3 events: the San Francisco Mile (which was a Grade 2 in 1994-2010), the Berkeley Handicap and the All American Stakes.

“I do believe that the synthetic surface is held against us in one regard,” Mackey said. “The El Camino, Berkeley Handicap and All American Stakes are run on synthetic, and I do believe that if these races were run on dirt we might get other horses to ship in here.”

The San Francisco Mile, which is run on grass, might be the beneficiary of the El Camino Real Derby’s downgrade.

“It presents an opportunity to give more money to the SF Mile and maybe even get it back to a Grade 2,” Mackey said.

The purses are likely to be reversed, with El Camino Real Derby dropping from $200,000 to $100,000 and the SF Mile going from $100,000 to $200,000.

“I don’t think that will hurt the El Camino, and if we get lucky enough to have a big horse run in it this year and next, maybe we can get the grade back,” Mackey said.