The North American International Catalogue Standards Committee has issued a reminder that effective Jan. 1, 2014, additional quality control requirements will be implemented for races in North America eligible for non-listed black-type in catalogs compliant with guidelines required by the Society of International Thoroughbred Auctioneers (SITA).
Races eligible for non-listed black-type status include stakes races with a purse of $50,000 or more that are open or have restrictions allowed by NAICSC such as state-bred, stallions' progeny, sales graduates, or non-winners of a sweepstakes.
The new requirements, first announced in November 2012, include the addition of a minimum Race Quality Score (RQS) for individual age/sex divisions. Statistics used in the evaluation of graded and listed races, including ratings provided by the North American Rating Committee, are not available for non-listed black-type races so the RQS will provide an alternative quality control measurement for these races, according to the NAICSC release.
The RQS is a composite number compiled by using speed figures for the first four finishers in each race over three years. The four speed figures used to compile the RQS are provided by Bloodstock Research Information Systems (BRIS), Daily Racing Form (Beyer), Equibase, and Thoro-Graph.
A complete listing of non-listed black-type races with their 2014 black-type status, their current RQS and the minimum RQS requirements for each age/sex division and the new quality control requirements are available at northamericanicsc.com.
North American Black-Type Requirements