{{unreferenced, date=March 2015 The International Cataloguing Standards Committee (ICSC), formed in 1981, is an organization in

Thoroughbred racing Thoroughbred racing is a sport and industry involving the racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport – flat racing and jump racing, the latter known as National Hunt racing in ...

which aims at achieving uniformity of cataloguing standards throughout the world during the internationalization of thoroughbred breeding, racing, and marketing.

Composition

The committee is made up of representatives of the racing authorities, breeders' organizations, and international auction houses of four major breeding and racing countries (

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

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Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, and the

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). The Organzicion Sudamericana de Fomento del Pura Sangre de Carrera (O.S.A.F.) of

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has had one representative since 1995 and the Asian Racing Conference has had one since 1996. The committee is making recommendations to the

Society of International Thoroughbred Auctioneers A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Societ ...

Objectives

The committee seeks to achieve uniformity by making International Cataloguing Standards the single most authoritative, comprehensive, practical, and accepted publication, in order to: * To prevent discrepancies between countries in the criteria applied for black type races in sales catalogues * To define more objective standards in the recognition of racing quality among the nations * To prevent imbalances between countries in the designation of Group or Grade and black type races.

History

In 1985 the committee set forth conditions under which a country could make the transition from Part II to Part I, and invited applications from those countries seeking to make this transition. In October, after careful evaluation of the various applications, the committee welcomed

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

, Australia,

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

and

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

into Part I. The committee found: * that racing in these countries is of sufficient stature in terms of number of horses competing, number of races contested, and purse monies distributed to justify their classification as being among the world's major racing countries; * that the number and percentage of races given group, graded or "black type" status in these countries is consistent with the pattern of racing in them without being disproportionate to the ration of such races in the countries already in Part I; and * that the group or graded and listed races in these countries are, in fact, the highest class races contested within them. Nonetheless, Uruguay was demoted to Part II again in 1992.

External links

Official homepage

Society of International Thoroughbred Auctioneers
Horse racing organizations