The Breeders’ Cup announced on Monday that the Juvenile Turf Sprint, run on the Breeders’ Cup World Championships undercard since 2013, would join the program as the 14th Breeders’ Cup race when Churchill Downs plays host to the event on November 2-3.
The Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint will carry a purse of $1 million and will be open to all two-year-olds. The race will be run at about 5 1/2 furlongs.
“The upgrade of the Juvenile Turf Sprint is in response to the increasing popularity of turf racing in North America and will fill a need for international turf sprint sires,” said Dora Delgado, Breeders’ Cup Senior Vice President of Racing and Nominations. “Each year, the Juvenile Turf and the Juvenile Fillies Turf are oversubscribed at the Championships. We feel that the Juvenile Turf Sprint will also be a popular draw among horsemen from North America and overseas stables and will generate interest among North American racetracks to card races in this division.”
The Breeders’ Cup also announced that the purse of the 2018 TwinSpires Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) would be increased to $2 million, a $500,000 increase over last year.
Total purses and awards for the 2018 event will now exceed $30 million.
