A happy Monday to everyone. I hope your weekend was enjoyable and, if you were playing the races, profitable. As we start to move deeper into the 2012 racing calendar I've decided to add a new feature to the site: a periodic look at divisional standings based on graded stakes results. There are several sites that put together divisional rankings, either through a point system, voting, or some other combination. A key point to the standings that I'm going to formulate is that they are divisional in nature, and not designed for a division-to-division comparison (like for Horse of the Year). As a result, the standings are meant to provide a snap-shot to a horse's performance compared to others in similar conditions. This is a slight difference from the Eclipse Awards where some categories combine conditions, such as the turf category where you'll have milers and classic horses mixed in.

The system I've decided to use is based on points earned in graded stakes races. The points assigned are based on the stakes level (G1, G2, G3, Breeders' Cup) and the corresponding finish in those races. I've organized the point structure as follows:

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