Breeders' Cup

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Grade 1 Race
Breeders Cup

Location Changes yearly
Inaugurated: 1984
Race type Thoroughbred
Website: Official Breeders' Cup website
Race information
Distance See individual races
Track Turf, Dirt, All Weather
Qualification See individual races
Weight See individual races
Purse Varies by Race; Between $1 Million - $5 Million

The Breeders' Cup World Championships is an annual series of Grade I thoroughbred horse races operated by Breeders' Cup Limited, a company formed in 1982 by a consortium of North American racing organizations, led by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association. From its inception in 1984 through 2006, it was a single-day event; starting in 2007, it expanded to two days. The location changes each year. All sites have been in the United States, except in 1996, when the races were at the Woodbine Racetrack in Canada.

The event was created as a year-end championship for North American thoroughbred racing, and also attracts top horses from other parts of the world, especially Europe. The Breeders' Cup was founded in 1982 by John R. Gaines, a leading thoroughbred owner and breeder. The second day of the Breeders' Cup is either the richest or second-richest day in sports,[1] with $20 million being awarded in 2007. Including the three new races, a total of $23 million was awarded in the 2007 event.

Contents

All Breeders' Cup fields are limited to 14 runners. If more than 14 are pre-entered, Breeders' Cup officials use a two-part selection system to decide which horses will be allowed to compete. The first seven runners earn automatic berths based on the points they have earned in American graded stakes races then a panel of racing directors and secretaries choose the next seven entrants.

Through 2006, there were eight races on the Breeders' Cup card, all classified as Grade I races. In 2007, three races — Dirt Mile, Filly and Mare Turf, and Juvenile Turf — were added, all of them run the Friday before the remaining eight races. Three more new races — a Turf Sprint, Juvenile Filly Turf and Dirt Marathon — were also added for 2008.[2]

While the order of the first six listed races on Saturday varies from year to year, the 'Turf' and 'Classic' are traditionally the last two races.

Race name Sponsor Distance/Surface Restrictions Purse
Turf Sprint various distances - turf 3-year-old & up $1 million
Juvenile Fillies Turf 1 mile - turf 2-year-olds $1 million
Dirt Marathon 1½ miles – dirt 3-year-olds & up $500,000
Filly & Mare Sprint 7 furlongs - dirt 3-year-old & up fillies/mares $1 million
Juvenile Turf 1 mile - turf 2-year-olds $1 million
Dirt Mile 1 mile - dirt 3-year-olds and up $1 million
Juvenile Fillies Grey Goose Vodka 1 1/16 miles - dirt 2-year-old fillies $2 million
Juvenile Bessemer Trust 1 1/16 miles - dirt 2-year-old colts & geldings $2 million
Filly & Mare Turf Emirates Airline 1¼ miles - turf Fillies & Mares $2 million
Sprint TVG Network 6 furlongs - dirt 3 yrs+ $2 million
Mile NetJets 1 mile - turf 3 yrs+ $2 million
Distaff Emirates Airline 1⅛ miles - dirt Fillies and mares 3 yrs+ $2 million
Turf John Deere 1½ miles - turf 3 yrs+ $3 million
Classic Dodge 1¼ miles - dirt 3 yrs+ $5 million

The new races cannot be considered graded stakes in 2007 or 2008.[3] The American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, the body that controls grading of North American stakes races, requires that a race be run under the same conditions for at least two years before it can be graded.

The 2007 Dirt Mile was run over 1 mile and 70 yards, while the 2007 Filly & Mare Sprint was run over six furlongs. These distances were required because of the configuration of the dirt track at the 2007 Breeders' Cup site of Monmouth Park.

The 2008 Turf Sprint will be contested on Santa Anita’s signature El Camino Real “downhill” turf course, with a maximum of 14 starters. In future years, the distance will depend on track configurations.[4]

Beginning in 2007, a new qualifying process took effect, in which the winners of 24 races at six tracks — Saratoga, Arlington Park, Del Mar, Belmont Park, Keeneland and Santa Anita during the Oak Tree meeting — earn automatic entry to the event in their respective divisions.

The all-time leaders in Breeders' Cup wins are:

Churchill Downs has hosted the race card six times, more than any other track. It hosted the card most recently in 2006.

NBC had broadcast every Breeders' Cup from its inception in 1984 through 2005. Starting in 2006, ESPN took over the television contract for eight years.

Trevor Denman is the voice of the Breeders' Cup. He began in 2006. All previous Breeders' Cup races were called by Tom Durkin from 1984 through 2005.

Previous championships have been held at the following tracks:

Some future sites have been set:

  1. ^ This depends on whether one considers poker to be a sport, and on the final table payouts in each year's World Series of Poker. The 2007 Main Event saw slightly over $22 million awarded at its final table, down from a record $38 million in 2006.
  2. ^ http://news.bloodhorse.com/viewstory.asp?id=42402
  3. ^ http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/racing-news/2007/November/28/Graded-Stakes-Committee-releases-2008-changes.aspx
  4. ^ http://news.bloodhorse.com/viewstory.asp?id=42402

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breeders%27_Cup"
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