Laurel Park's Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash was downgraded from Grade I to Grade II status, the American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association announced. The De Francis Dash was one of just three Grade I races contested in Maryland, along with the Preakness and the Pimlico Special. The committee reviewed 723 unrestricted U.S. stakes races with purses of at least $75,000, and assigned graded status to 487 of them. A total of 15 graded races were upgraded, while 23 were downgraded, including the De Francis Dash and Pimlico Race Course's Miss Preakness Stakes, which went from a Grade III to ungraded.

- From Sun staff and news services