Tony Morris: culling of Pattern races long overdue - but not in this random way
The doyen of bloodstock writers reviews the Group-race action of 2020
The European Pattern system was initiated in 1971 with a view to bringing order to the annual programme of the continent’s major races and classifying the performers.
Its 50th season in 2020 provided nothing to celebrate. Instead, the baleful effects of Covid-19 ensured that our racing year turned out more chaotic than any in the history of the sport.
Who could ever have imagined a season in which Royal Ascot preceded Epsom, or that the Dante and the Musidora, York’s trials for the Derby and Oaks, were staged a week after those Classics had been run? Such anomalies abounded in a season like no other.
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