Breeders' Cup set for two-day change

This year’s Breeders’ Cup meeting will be a two-day affair with three new $1m (€767,700) races on the opening day.

The fixture, to be staged at Monmouth Park in 2007, will be held on Friday and Saturday for the first time and will comprise 11 races over the two days.

The existing eight Breeders’ Cup races will remain on the Saturday with the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf introduced on the first day.

A further three stakes races will also be added to the opening day, a one-mile-and-half-a-furlong event for three-year-old fillies, a mile turf race for juvenile fillies and a six-furlong sprint for two-year-olds.

The total value of the card will be $4m (€3.1m), making it the second-richest day of racing in North America behind Breeders’ Cup day.

Breeders’ Cup organisers are now waiting for the scheme to be approved by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority and state regulators.

“This announcement, along with other previously announced changes over the course of the last year, provides the framework for unprecedented growth of the Breeders’ Cup,” Breeders’ Cup chairman Bill Farish told www.bloodhorse.com

“There will be more races, more purse money and more nominator participation than at any time in the event’s history, all designed to attract the best horses from around the world to compete in the Breeders’ Cup World Championships.”

The new two-day fixture is to be held on October 26 and 27.