pattern race meaning

• noun
    A horse-race open to all comers in a particular category, eg of a certain age or weight, usu contested by top-class horses, the object being to find the best

• His most recent British Pattern race winner came in the 2007 Winter Derby with Gentleman's Deal.
• In recent years, change has been occurring as the Pattern Racing Committee has taken a more scientific approach.
• This will be dictated almost entirely by the stallion's performances in Pattern races during its racing career.
• Given the self-interest of each state forming the Australian Racing Board, progress in properly grading races has been slow and controversy is often found in the decisions taken by the Pattern Racing Committee.
• This was his first Jk
  shM
  pattern race win at Grade I, and at the same time a new record of four consecutive wins of the same race by a foreign jockey, beating the record set by Olivier Peslier.
• The current British Horseracing Authority rules state that a race in Great Britain is a Listed race if " in any particular year, it is a flat race which appears as a listed race in the European Pattern Race Book.