Breeder's Cup

The World Championships of the Breeder's Cup was first introduced in 1984 as single day event. It is a yearly series of races of Thoroughbred horses that are not necessarily Grade 1. The company operating the races is Breeder's Cup Limited which was formed in 1982. Up until 2006, this single day event was expanded into 2 days starting 2007 until the present. The races are held in different locations in the US every year except for 1996 when races were held in Canada at Woodbine Racetrack.

This event was created for the purpose of capping the North American Thoroughbred racing championships and to attract the top horses from all parts of the world. The competition was founded by John R. Gaines in 1982. He is the leading breeder and thoroughbred owner who aimed at cleaning this sport's image.

Prior to expanding the Breeder's Cup into a 2 day event, these races were the world's second richest. A total amount of $17 million were awarded in 2008 while it was $20 million given out in 2007. The only other single richest Thoroughbred racing day event happened in the Dubai World Cup night. It was during 2008 where it featured a 6 race event with a purse worth $21 million. Aside from cash rewards, the winner of the Breeder's Cup is awarded with a Trophy and a garland of flowers.

How the Races are Played

In every 14 Championship races of the Breeder's Cup, 14 starters are the allowed maximum for each race. An exception is made to the Dirt Mile, Juvenile Turf and Juvenile Fillies Turf races wherein only 12 starters are allowed.

In selecting the runners in every event, the Breeder's Cup Limited uses a selection system. The system ranks the horses according to their preference based on (a)the point system, (b) the performance in the Challenge Races and ( c ) according to the racing experts judgments. The implementation of the field selection system is necessary after the acceptance of the pre-entries around 6 weeks prior to the official ranking of  Breeder's cup oversubscribed fields. After the pre-entry, the vacancies on the fields would be filled in by the horses according to the panel's preference.

In 2006, there were only 8 races on the card of the Breeder's Cup and all were under the Grade 1 classification. Three races were added in 2007, namely Juvenile Turf, Filly and Mare Sprint, and Dirt Mile. All these races were run on the Friday before the 8 remaining races. The Turf Sprint, Marathon and Juvenile Filly Turf were races added during 2008.

Throughout the event's history, the chronological order of races on the card was changed several times. Traditionally, the last 2 races are the Classic and Turf. The event in 2008 marked Day 1 as fully dedicated for the fillies and mares races. Day 2 featured all the other races. Since then, Ladies Classic and Filly & Mare Turf are the Day 1's last two races. In 2009, runners of both sexes in the Marathon was moved to Day 1 from Day 2. All the other races remained on the day they were run in 2008.