The Breeders’ Cup announced Friday that a total of 107 horses have been
nominated to the program through the recently conducted Open Enrollment period.
Among the top nominated horses are an array of Grade/Group 1 winners, including Canford Cliffs (Tagula), Cape Blanco (Ire) (Galileo [Ire]), Dubawi Heights (GB)
(Dubawi), Gitano Hernando (GB) (Hernando [Fr]), Miss Match (Arg) (Indygo
Shiner), Overdose (GB) (Starborough), So You Think (High Chaparral [Ire]),
Stacelita (Fr) (Monsun) and Treasure Beach (Ire) (Galileo [Ire]).
Last year, the Breeders’ Cup board passed sweeping changes to its worldwide
nomination program to increase the number of eligible runners for the 2011
Breeders’ Cup World Championships. Among those changes was the offer of a
special one-time, fee-based program this year for previously non-nominated
horses.
The fee payment structure was as follows:
| Yearlings (Born
in 2010): |
$3,000 | |
| Two-year-olds (Born
in 2009): |
$6,000 | |
|
Three-year-old and older (Born in 2008 and Earlier): |
$25,000 |
Of the 107 total open enrollment nominees, 24 are three-years-old or older,
63 are juveniles and 20 are yearlings. The complete list of open enrollment
nominees will be posted on July 15 at
www.members.breederscup.com.
With the expiration of this one-time open enrollment, the late nomination
fees will revert to standard rates for horses that were not previously nominated
(e.g., $100,000/$200,000 Horses of Racing Age fee).
“We are tremendously pleased with the global response to this one-time open
enrollment program from owners and breeders from around the world. They were
able to take advantage of this special program to nominate their racehorses at
prices that were extremely favorable,” said Dora Delgado, Breeders’ Cup senior
vice president, racing and nominations.
“It is also very encouraging to see the high volume of two-year-old stock
coming into the program from horsemen who can now take advantage of our expanded
Championship Juvenile program as five races will be offered at the 2011 event at
Churchill Downs.”
These newly nominated horses will experience the same benefits as those
runners nominated as foals under the previous system. They will receive full
eligibility to the redesigned Breeders’ Cup Challenge “Win and You’re In”
series. Any horse that wins a Challenge race in 2011, in addition to having an
automatic starting position in the corresponding Championships race, will also
have its entry fees paid and receive a travel allowance when they start in the
Breeders’ Cup World Championships, which offers $26 million in purses and
awards. Additionally the nominator of every Breeders’ Cup Challenge winner will
receive a $10,000 nominator award.
In addition to the nomination of yearlings and horses of racing age, a total
of 390 international stallions from 17 countries outside of North America have
thus far been nominated to the Breeders’ Cup through the International
Nominations program, which makes all of their offspring automatically eligible.
Those stallion owners in the Northern Hemisphere paid an annual nomination fee
of 50 percent of the advertised stallion’s stud fee, while stallion owners in
the Southern Hemisphere paid 25 percent of the advertised stud fee to nominate
their stallions.