Officials of the Breeders' Cup and The Stronach Group today announced that the winner of the 145th Preakness Stakes (G1) for 3-year-olds on Oct. 3 at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore will earn an automatic starting position into the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1). The announcement marks the first time that a Triple Crown race will be a part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series.
The Breeders' Cup Challenge is an international series of stakes races whose winners receive automatic starting positions and fees paid into corresponding races of the Breeders' Cup World Championships, scheduled to be held this year on Nov. 6-7 at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky. The $7 million Longines Breeders' Cup Classic, contested at 1 ¼ miles, will be run on Saturday, Nov. 7.
Both the Preakness, run at 1 3/16 miles, and the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic, will be broadcast live on NBC.
“The events of 2020 have for all of us been about responding to unforeseen challenges and making the best of them,” said Craig Fravel, Chief Executive Officer, Racing Operations, 1/ST. “Many of those challenges including the changes to the Triple Crown have been unwelcome but becoming part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series is most welcome and a fitting finale to the three-year-old season as the horses and their connections make their way to Baltimore for the last leg of the Triple Crown. We look forward to hosting the best of America's three-year-old horses on October 3 at the Preakness and to enjoying their success thereafter in the Breeders' Cup Classic.”
“With terrific racing ahead, we're excited that the two biggest events of the fall months will be further connected with the Preakness Stakes winner earning a coveted berth in the Breeders' Cup Classic,” said Jon Miller, President of Programming for NBC and NBCSN.
Due to scheduling changes caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the Preakness date was shifted from May 16 to Oct. 3, and will be run as the third jewel of the 2020 Triple Crown. This year's Triple Crown began on June 20 with the Belmont Stakes (G1), won by Tiz the Law, at Belmont Park, and will be followed by the Kentucky Derby (G1), which will be run on Sept. 5 at Churchill Downs.
Four Preakness winners have won the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic. In 2015, American Pharoah swept the Triple Crown and the Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland to become racing's first “Grand Slam” winner. Preakness winners Sunday Silence (1989), Alysheba (1987) and Curlin (2007) also won the Classic. Alysheba captured the Classic in 1988.
As part of the benefits of the Challenge series, the Breeders' Cup will pay the $150,000 in entry fees for the Preakness winner to start in the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic, which is limited to 14 starters. Breeders' Cup also will provide a travel allowance of $10,000 for all North American starters based outside of Kentucky to compete in the World Championships. The Preakness winner must already be nominated to the Breeders' Cup program or it must be nominated by the Championships' pre-entry deadline of Oct. 26 to receive the rewards.
There are six horses who have thus far earned automatic starting positions into this year's Longines Breeders' Cup Classic through the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Mozu Ascot, winner of the February Stakes (G1) at Tokyo Racecourse on Feb. 23; Tom's d'Etat, who took the Stephen Foster Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs on June 27; Authentic, winner of the TVG.com Haskell Stakes (G1) at Monmouth Park on July 18; Improbable, who won the Whitney (G1) at Saratoga Race Course on Aug. 1; Ghaiyyath (IRE), winner of the Juddmonte International Stakes (G1) at York on Aug. 19 in Great Britain and Maximum Security, who won the TVG Pacific Classic (G1) at Del Mar on Aug. 22.
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