Breeders’ Cup to be spread over two days
The 2007 World Thoroughbred Championships, which will be held at the Monmouth Park track in New Jersey, will maintain its traditional Saturday programme of eight races but Breeders’ Cup organisers have added three races to its event schedule, each worth a US$1 million, and to be run the day before, Friday, October 26.
The new races will be a one-mile event on dirt for three-year-olds and up, a dirt sprint for fillies and mares, and a mile turf race for two-year-old males.
There is a slight alteration for this year only due to layout of the Monmouth dirt track, which does not easily allow for one-mile races.
Therefore, the inaugural Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile will be run at a mile and 70 yards, while The Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint will be a six-furlong contest and then switch to seven furlongs in future years, where the host track allows.
The two-year-old grass race has been named the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.
The changes come about in a bid to finally connect the Breeders’ Cup with a wider audience beyond the hardcore support it attracts among racing fans.
“The whole reason for doing this is to grow the brand and the awareness of the Breeders’ Cup,” said Bill Farish, the chairman of the Breeders’ Cup board. “We think the Friday adds something. It gives more people a chance to participate in the Breeders’ Cup as a whole.
“We are trying to create a racing-festival-type atmosphere, and have a real reason to be at the track on the Friday.”
In addition to the new Breeders’ Cup races, there will be three stakes races, each with a $250,000 purse.
