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 (

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France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

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, 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 {{no footnotes, date=January 2014 The Asian Racing Federation (ARF) is a regional federation comprising 29 national horse racing authorities and racing-related organisations from across Asia, Oceania, Africa and the Middle East. The ARF is formally ...

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. Soc ...

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, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

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Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

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and

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of 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 the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

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
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090122140208/http://www.thoroughbredauction.com/default.asp?a=4 , date=2009-01-22 Horse racing organizations