What is a Listed race?
In horse racing, a Listed race is a race at a level just below Group level or, in other words, three steps down from the highest level, Group One, in terms of quality. Listed races are regulated by the European Pattern Committee and represent the easiest opportunity for horses to earn ‘black type’, so-called because horses that have won, or at least been placed, at Listed or Group level have their names printed in bold, black type, in sales catalogues.
No minimum official rating is required to run in a Listed race but, nonetheless Listed races are considered more prestigious than handicap races. Like Group races, they are intended to be a test of class, so horses compete at level weights, subject to weight-for-age and weight-for-sex allowances and penalties for winning in a higher grade – that is, in a Group One, Group Two or Group Three contest – with a certain period of time. Notable Listed races in the British horse racing calendar include the Wolferton Stakes, Windsor Castle Stakes andh Chesham Stakes, all of which are run at Royal Ascot, but there are literally dozens of such races run up and down the country throughout.