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Where: Santa Anita in Arcadia, California
When: The
Breeders Cup takes place on October 24th and 25th
Watch: See it on TV with ESPN at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time (Oct 25th)
The Breeders’ Cup
With a view to promote the thoroughbred horseracing across the North America, a proposal for organizing the Thoroughbred championships was put forward by the then leading Thoroughbred owner and breeder John R. Gaines. When the announcement was made in April 1982, it was tough to uniting the industry itself — surprisingly, everyone readily accepted the concept and ensured contributing for an annual horseracing event. Breeders’ Cup Limited was conceptualized during this time to host a series of thoroughbred races annually with multi-million-dollar purse in total.
On November 10, 1984, a series of seven races was run before a crowd of 64,254 at the historic Hollywood Park in Inglewood, California. It was a grand success compared to the response it was expected earlier. After this august gathering at the Hollywood Park, the Breeders’ Cup created the foundation for the season-ending championship of Thoroughbred racing. Now, after twenty-four long years of it’s inauguration, Breeders’ Cup has firmly rooted into the United States’ racing history.
Conventionally, a different North American track is chosen for hosting Breeders’ Cup Championships each year in a unique way. You will find it at the century-old Churchill Downs in one year while in the next at the stately Belmont Park or the next year at Santa Anita Park against the beautiful background of the San Gabriel Mountains. Due to rotational policy of organizing the race, this horseracing event is popular all across the US – this is what the founders envisioned also!
Since the inaugural session of Breeders’ Cup Championships, the Classic is regarded as the focus of all the contenders; besides Classic there are the Juvenile and the Juvenile Fillies, the Distaff and the Filly & Mare Turf for females all ages three and up. The Sprint, the Mile and the Turf are open to horses of both sexes unlike the Classic. The history of Breeders’ Cup is studded with some enthralling performance: the remarkable finish in the 2005 Breeders’ Cup Classic by the great Cigar or the sharp stunts of Personal Engine to way past Kentucky Derby winner Winning Colors in 1988, are all great finishes. Dozens of such stunning feats will be found if one starts searching the history of Breeders’ Cup.
Unquestionably, each year is better than it’s previous one at the Breeders’ Cup. Now, the participants come from across the globe and add more interest to this championship. Even horses have journeyed from as far as Japan to participate this race. Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky credits to hold the record for attendance and betting. This racetrack gathered 80,452 spectators in 1998 and in 2000, over $108 million was wagered. Different media organizations feature this horseracing event in their own style; this is somewhat unprecedented in Thoroughbred racing. After televised Breeders’ Cup, NBC has won Eclipse Award for National Television Achievement and the Outstanding Live Sports Special of 1992 at the 14th Emmy Awards for Sports annual ceremony.
The 2008 Breeders’ Cup World Championships is now due to be held in California where it all began in 1984; the Oak Tree, Santa Anita will host the two-day event (24th – 25th Oct) with three additional races added and with purse of $25.5 million in total. |
