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Breeders' Cup makes changes to Challenge schedule The Breeders' Cup announced Monday that the 2013 Breeders' Cup Challenge series will consist of 67 automatic qualifying races into the Breeders' Cup World Championships. This year's series, to be conducted in 10 countries, will feature 48 Grade or Group 1 events and nine new races. Breeders' Cup will pay entry fees and provide travel allowances for the connections of the Challenge winners outside of California to compete in the Championships. Horses from around the globe will be qualifying for the 30th Breeders' Cup, which will be held at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California, on November 1- 2, and will be televised live on the NBC Sports Network. The $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic will be shown live in primetime on NBC from 8-9 p.m. (EDT) on November 2. The Breeders' Cup Challenge series, now in its seventh year, will be held at many of the world's premier racetracks in the United States, Canada, Argentina, Australia, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan and South Africa. This year's series began in January in South Africa, when the five-year-old Variety Club won the Queen's Plate at Kenilworth Racecourse in Cape Town and qualified for an automatic starting position in the Breeders' Cup Mile. The series continues Saturday at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Australia with the T.J. Smith Stakes for an automatic berth into the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint. The first North American race of the series will be the Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs June 15, for an automatic berth in the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic. There will be five automatic berths for the Breeders' Cup Classic. In addition to the Stephen Foster, the Classic qualifiers, all Grade 1 races, will be the Whitney Handicap from Saratoga on August 3, won last year by Fort Larned, followed by the Pacific Classic from Del Mar on August 25, and the Jockey Club Gold Cup from Belmont Park and the Awesome Again Stakes from Santa Anita, both on September 28. The series will include nine new races: the Triple Bend Handicap on June 29 at Hollywood Park for an automatic berth into the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile; the Bing Crosby Stakes (Turf Sprint) from Del Mar on July 28; the Yorkshire Oaks (Filly & Mare Turf) and the Lowther Stakes (Juvenile Fillies Turf) at York in England, both on August 22; the Pat O'Brien Stakes (Dirt Mile) at Del Mar on August 25; the Juvenile Trial (Juvenile Turf) on September 7 at Leopardstown in Ireland; the Pocahontas Stakes (Juvenile Fillies) and the Iroquois Stakes (Juvenile), both from Churchill Downs on September 7, and the Canadian Stakes (Filly & Mare Turf) on September 15 at Woodbine. There will be 14 series races held in California, the most of any region, comprising $610,000 in paid entry fees to race winners. A number of races have been dropped from the Challenge schedule -- the Metropolitan Handicap (which had guaranteed a spot in the Dirt Mile); the Hollywood Gold Cup and Delaware Handicap, formerly win-and-you're in races for the Classic and Ladies' Classic, respectively; the Pretty Polly at the Curragh (formerly Filly & Mare Turf); Greenwood Cup (formerly Marathon); San Diego (formerly Dirt Mile); Turf Monster (formerly Turf Sprint); the Hopeful and Del Mar Futurity (formerly guaranteeing berths in the Juvenile); Gallant Bloom (formerly Filly & Mare Sprint); Fillies Mile at Newmarket (formerly Juvenile Fillies Turf); Beresford at the Curragh (formerly Juvenile Turf); Middle Park at Newmarket (since its Breeders' Cup race, the Juvenile Sprint, has been eliminated); and the Canadian International and E.P. Taylor, once offering berths in the Turf and Filly & Mare Turf, respectively. As part of the enhanced benefits to horsemen in the Breeders' Cup Challenge series, Breeders' Cup will pay the entry fees and guarantee a starting position in a corresponding Championships race for winners of all Challenge races. Breeders' Cup will provide travel allowances to all starters outside of California for this year's Championships including Challenge race winners. Breeders' Cup will provide a $40,000 travel stipend to the connections of each Challenge winner from outside of North America -- a $20,000 increase over last year's overseas travel allowance -- and in North America, a $10,000 travel allowance for winners stabled outside of California. The Challenge winner must be nominated to the Breeders' Cup program by the Championships' pre-entry deadline of October 21 to receive the rewards. For the third consecutive year, the Breeders' Cup will pay foal nominators of Challenge winners a $10,000 award. Last year, a record 45 winners of Breeders' Cup Challenge races participated in the World Championships. Of those starters, seven horses, Fort Larned (Classic), Wise Dan (Mile), Groupie Doll (Filly & Mare Sprint), Royal Delta (Ladies' Classic), Shanghai Bobby (Juvenile), Little Mike (Turf) and Calidoscopio (Marathon) won Breeders' Cup World Championships races. "We are very encouraged that horsemen from around the world continue to take advantage of the benefits provided in the Breeders' Cup Challenge series by awarding a guaranteed starting berth, paid entry fees, and travel allowances as the best way to secure a place into the Championships," Breeders' Cup President and CEO Craig Fravel said. Bet Horseracing Free Online at TwinSpires.com
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