“Our return to Del Mar in back-to-back years marks the continuation of a wonderful collaboration and successful partnership, both with our friends at the track and with the greater San Diego area, demonstrating our continued commitment to California horse racing,” said Drew Fleming, President and CEO of Breeders' Cup Limited. “We look forward to once again gathering where the turf meets the surf as the world's best Thoroughbreds put on an incredible show.”

The 2025 edition, to be held Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, will be the fourth running of the Breeders' Cup at Del Mar. The San Diego-area track also hosted the Breeders' Cup in 2017 and 2021. In 2021, Del Mar handled $182,908,409 on the two-day event. This year at Santa Anita, total all-sources, global common-pool handle for the two-day Breeders' Cup was $176,281,989.

“We couldn't be more excited about hosting back-to-back Breeders' Cup World Championships and welcoming the very best in international racing back to the town of Del Mar and the greater San Diego area,” said Joe Harper, CEO of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club. “The Breeders' Cup represents the pinnacle in world-class racing and the organization's willingness to return here again is a testament to the quality of our racing facilities, our idyllic weather, and the warm hospitality shown to our visitors by the local community.”

The last time a track hosted consecutive Breeders' Cups was from 2012 to 2014, when it was run three straight years at Santa Anita.

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Ortiz guided White Abarrio (Race Day) to the win in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, Elite Power (Curlin) in the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint and Goodnight Olive (Ghostzapper) in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint.

The Shoemaker Award is named in honor of the late Hall of Fame jockey, who won 8,833 races throughout his career,

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The Breeders' Cup World Championships at Santa Anita Park will be conducted according to industry-leading safety and integrity protocols to ensure the wellbeing of all human and equine athletes. As previously announced, Breeders' Cup introduced an enhanced pre-screening protocol in the lead-up to this year's World Championships, upholding its ongoing commitment to putting safety first.

This year also marks the first time the Breeders' Cup World Championships will run under the full jurisdiction of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA), including the Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) Program, which took effect in May.

Breeders' Cup runners are subject to strict anti-doping and medication control requirements, including out-of-competition, pre-race, and post-race testing administered by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU). Additional safety and integrity protocols include equine security and surveillance measures, enhanced veterinary exam procedures, injury management protocols and racing surface maintenance and testing in the leadup to the event.

Early Preparations: Out-of-Competition Testing, Veterinary Coordination & Racing Surface Oversight

Beginning in July 2023, a list of potential Breeders' Cup contenders was developed. The list included a combination of graded stakes winners, Challenge Series winners, and other horses on the possible starter list. HIWU then performed out-of-competition (OOC) testing for banned substances on those potential contenders. Blood samples were taken by HIWU-trained collection personnel and sent for testing to HIWU-accredited labs. Breeders' Cup OOC testing administered by HIWU concluded Oct. 30 and resulted in the collection of 226 samples.

The Breeders Cup Veterinary Team also began holding coordination meetings with counterparts from 1/ST Racing, HISA, HIWU and the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) in July. Through a regular cadence of meetings in the ensuing months, the group outlined veterinary exam schedules, OOC testing, safety and medication regulations, injury management and diagnostic tool implementation.

Dr. Mick Peterson, Program Director of the University of Kentucky Racetrack Safety Program, has worked in collaboration with 1/ST Racing Track Consultant Dennis Moore throughout the year. Both surface experts have also consulted with HISA's new Track Surfaces Advisory Group throughout their evaluation and maintenance operations of the racing surfaces at Santa Anita Park.

Safety & Integrity Protocols: October through World Championships Week

The five-member Breeders' Cup Veterinary Review Team completed its initial phase of enhanced pre-screening protocols on Oct. 23. This included:

• The assessment of veterinary and treatment records as well as training and racing patterns associated with more than 200 potential contenders;
• Physical examinations conducted by veterinarians in relevant racing jurisdictions around the world; and
• The use of advanced diagnostic tools in the event additional scrutiny was required.

Attending veterinarians for all potential Breeders' Cup runners were required to submit 30-day treatment records–a nationwide requirement under HISA that will inform the Breeders' Cup Veterinary Review Team's second review–upon pre-entry. 24-hour surveillance began following the mandatory equine security check-in at 10:00 pm PT on Sunday, Oct. 29 for international runners and 11:00 am PT on Tuesday, Oct. 31 for domestic runners. All horses entered in a Breeders' Cup race underwent an additional round of HIWU-administered pre-race blood testing for banned substances on Tuesday, Oct. 31, with results set to be returned by race day.

Additionally, every Breeders' Cup runner is subject to:

• Comprehensive onsite veterinary exams, including jog exams and the use of diagnostic technology as needed, beginning Wednesday, Oct. 25;
• Random physical examination at the determination of the Breeders' Cup Veterinary Team;
• In-stall and on-track veterinary oversight during training and schooling;
• Mandatory jog-up veterinary exams before exiting any racing or training surface at Santa Anita Park starting Friday, Oct. 27;
• Pre-race veterinary examinations in the barn and veterinary monitoring of horses in the paddock and during warm-up on race day;
• Extensive post-race testing of the first four finishers as well as any runner that does not perform as expected and other runners as designated by the stewards; and
• Observation of all other finishers cooling out as they exit the racetrack to determine if any need aid.

Throughout the week leading up to the World Championships, Dr. Mick Peterson's team has been conducting various checks to evaluate all track surfaces. Additionally, TurfTrax software has been employed to measure the condition of the turf track. These results are posted daily for horsemen and the media.

Additional resources detailing Breeders' Cup's health and safety protocols for the 2023 World Championships can be found here and downloaded here.

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“We are delighted to welcome Prevagen, one of America's most dynamic brain health support providers, as an official partner of this year's World Championships,” said Heather Higgins, Senior Vice President of Corporate Partnerships for Breeders' Cup Limited. “Prevagen's commitment to the name-in-title partnership of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf, and their support of our historic 40th running celebration through the Memorable Moments campaign, are great ways to kick off this new partnership.”

Prevagen will also partner with Breeders' Cup in “Memorable Moments presented by Prevagen,” a televised series of vignettes highlighting Thoroughbred racing history that has been made since the first running of the Breeders' Cup World Championships in 1984.

“Memorable Moments presented by Prevagen” will appear during the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In broadcasts on NBC, FOX, and CNBC and during the Breeders' Cup itself.

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This year's forum will discuss several key issues affecting pool betting, including attracting a younger audience and how sustainability issues in horse racing will impact on betting.

The forum will be held at the Le Meridien Pasadena Arcadia hotel. For more information or to register, visit the WOTA website.

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The 39th Breeders' Cup World Championships, consisting of 14 races with purses and awards totaling more than $31 million, will be held at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Kentucky on Friday, Nov. 4, and Saturday, Nov. 5.

The live stream will be hosted by FanDuel TV talent Joaquin Jaime and the voice of the Breeders' Cup, Larry Collmus.

Breeders' Cup Pre-Entry is the first stage of a two-stage entry process for all owners intending to start a horse in one of the 14 Breeders' Cup World Championships races. The first payment is due at the pre-entry stage on Monday, Oct. 24. The second payment is due on Monday, Oct. 31, when entries are taken for all 14 Breeders' Cup races and post positions are drawn.

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The 39th Breeders' Cup begins on Friday, Nov. 4 with Future Stars Friday, featuring all five Breeders' Cup World Championships races for 2-year-olds. There will be five undercard races preceding the first Breeders' Cup race on Friday's 10-race program, with the first race post time at 11:55 a.m. ET.

USA Network and FanDuel TV (formerly TVG) will televise the first day of this year's World Championships from 2-6 p.m. ET. This is the first year that USA Network will televise the World Championships. In total, FanDuel TV will be televising 13 of the 14 World Championships races and all undercard races.

Friday's first Breeders' Cup Championship race will be Race #6, which will have a post time of 3 p.m. ET. Post time for the last Breeders' Cup race of the day, Race #10, will be 5:40 p.m. ET.

There will be 12 races on Saturday, Nov. 5, featuring nine Breeders' Cup World Championships races. The day opens with two undercard races, beginning with a first race post time of 10:30 a.m. ET. The first Breeders' Cup Championship race will be Race #3, which will have a post time of 11:50 a.m. ET. FanDuel TV will televise the first eight Breeders' Cup World Championships races on Saturday.

USA Network begins its Saturday coverage from 1-3:30 p.m. ET, followed by two-and-a-half hours of live programming on NBC and Peacock, from 3:30-6 p.m. ET, culminating with the $6 million Longines Breeders' Cup Classic. Post time for the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic, Race #11, will be 5:40 p.m. ET. An additional undercard Race #12 will complete the Saturday programming with a post time of 6:20 p.m. ET.

The official race order and wagering menu for both days of the World Championships will be announced on Wednesday, Oct. 26.

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Owners may nominate their horses of racing age online or by calling the Breeders' Cup Racing department at 859-514-9422. A Breeders' Cup-nominated horse is eligible to participate in all Breeders' Cup purse and awards programs for its entire racing career without any further nomination payments due.

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Also this week, Breeders' Cup announced that the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In schedule will feature 82 qualifying races in 11 counties. New for this year, the 2022 series in the U.S. has been restructured into a regional qualifying program in order to balance divisional competition across the country. Learn more here.

The TDN spoke with Courtney Reid, the Director of Racing and Industry Relations at Breeders' Cup, to learn more about these new programs ahead of this year's Breeders' Cup World Championships at Keeneland. The following has been edited for brevity and clarity.

TDN: How did the idea for the Dirt Dozen come about?

Reid: Just like the Challenge series, we try to make our races more attractive for our horsemen to participate in each year. We decided that offering bonus money toward these 12 graded stakes races is a great way to defray the entry fee costs into the Championship dirt races. The incentives offered with this program will not only add starters to our Championship dirt races, but also hopefully help bolster the field sizes of the 12 races selected for the Dirt Dozen. We have received positive feedback so far from the racing secretaries included in the program.

TDN: How are the divisions in the program set up and how will the bonus credits be allocated?

   Reid: Of the 12 races, there are two races per division. So for example, in the Breeders' Cup Sprint division, the first Dirt Dozen race is the GIII Smile H. at Gulfstream Park on July 2. The first three finishers of this race will receive a bonus tier of credit funds that will go toward entry fees for the Championship race. The first-place finisher will receive $30,000, which is half of the entry fee. They would just need to pay the remaining $30,000 to run in the GI Qatar Racing Breeders' Cup Sprint. The second-place finisher will get $15,000 and the third-place finisher will receive $7,500.

With these races, a horse could technically get complete free entry into the Championship if they ran in both races in the division. With the Qatar Racing Breeders' Cup Sprint example, if they ran in the GIII Smile H. and the GII Santa Anita Sprint Championship, they could have the entries fully paid for if they won both.

TDN: Do you think that in the past, entry fees have held horses back from attending the Breeders' Cup?

   Reid: I don't think that entry fees have been the main factor that has held horses back, but I will say that over the years, prohibitive favorites have discouraged some outfits who might be on the fence. But if you take last year for example, we had three heavy favorites in Jackie's Warrior, Gamine and Letruska who were all defeated, so you never know. We hope that this new program will be additional incentive for connections who might be on the fence.

TDN: Why was there a need to create this program specifically for dirt races?

   Reid: We have 56 turf races in the Breeders' Cup Challenge series program, so we think there is ample room to automatically qualify in a Challenge race for a turf race. We wanted to give more opportunities for dirt races. Historically, dirt races around the country–particularly in stakes races–haven't been filling as much as they have in turf races. This was an opportunity to bolster our dirt races.

TDN: Could you give an overview of the restructured format this year for the regional qualifying program in the U.S.?

Reid: The Breeders' Cup Challenge Series is in its 15th year this year. We will have 82 challenge races worldwide in 11 countries covering all the divisions. We have 43 domestically and 39 international.

Domestically, we have restructured the program to establish regional balance throughout the country with an East, West and Midwest division. In 11 of the 14 divisions, there will be one Breeders' Cup Challenge Series race per region. We wanted to ensure that one part of the country did not have an advantage over the other.

TDN: What are some of the most notable changes with races that will or will not be considered a Win and You're In?

Reid: For example, in New York, the Jockey Club Derby, the John A. Nerud S. and the Personal Ensign S. are no longer Challenge races, however they gained the Pilgrim S. and the Miss Grillo S. Some of these categories had too many races in certain parts of the country, so this was an effort to balance it out. For some of the dirt races that lost Challenge series designation, we were able to add them to the Dirt Dozen program.

The GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic is an outlier here. It's our richest and most poplar race, so we are continuing to give more opportunity to earn automatic qualifying in this division. With that, four of the six U.S. Classic division races will be nationally televised on NBC and CNBC for Breeders' Cup Challenge Series programming.

TDN: With this new setup, do you expect to see regional rivalries form on the road to the World Championships?

   Reid: Absolutely. Rivalries are part of what makes sports more interesting and exciting. We want to see fans have a rooting interest for horses in their part of the country. Surely there will be racing fans in California who will be rooting and betting on horses in their region to beat the best in the East and Midwest at Keeneland this fall.

TDN: The Breeders' Cup Win and You're In Challenge Series has evolved since it was launched 15 years ago. What do you think has made it so successful over the years?

Reid: Each year, we assess the races and we have had a lot of participation from our horsemen. We think it's special to participate in a Challenge series race. We're thankful and proud of our owners and trainers who have channeled their efforts into training horses toward winning a Challenge series race so they can take advantage of gaining that automatic starting position. The horsemen have always told us that if they are deciding between two races and one is a Challenge series race, they typically will point for the Challenge race.

TDN: As you plan for the Breeders' Cup World Championships at Keeneland this fall, how do you envision the entries shaping up in respect to these new formats and programs.

   Reid: We always get a significant number of our Challenge winners to run in our Championship races and we hope that our Dirt Dozen program will have the same results. We hope it will add one or two, if not three or more starters per dirt race. Our goal is to bolster field size for our races. We want to offer the most competitive betting races and provide entertaining races for our fans each year. We think that this year at Keeneland will be an exceptional experience.

TDN: Will there be any major changes or updates this year specifically with respect to international participation, given their incredible results last year?

Reid: The only international change in regard to the Challenge series is that at Royal Ascot, the King's Stand S. will replace the Diamond Jubilee S. The King's Stand is a five-furlong race, which better suits a runner for our Championship Turf Sprint division.

We expect to have another strong international contention as we did last year. We're constantly reaching out to connections there. Josh Christian will be making a few trips abroad and we have our international liaisons, John Fulton in South America and Kate Hunter in Japan, who do a great job for us with creating awareness and helping recruit horsemen to come to the Championships.

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“We couldn't be more excited to return to Keeneland for the 39th running of the Breeders' Cup World Championships,” said Breeders' Cup President and CEO Drew Fleming. “As the 2020 World Championships at Keeneland were held without fans due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we eagerly await the opportunity to return to Lexington in full force in support of local racing fans, businesses, and members of the Thoroughbred industry who are the backbone of our sport.”

Anticipation and demand for tickets are expected to be high. Fans are encouraged to visit BreedersCup.com/2022 now to sign up to receive the latest ticket information and news. As announced in September 2020, fans who purchased tickets to the 2020 Breeders' Cup World Championship have the right to repurchase the same or similar seats as they had previously, and that process is currently underway. Anyone who purchased Breeders' Cup tickets in 2020 and has not yet received emails from the Breeders' Cup Ticketing Department should call (859) 514-9428 or email Tickets@BreedersCup.com for assistance.

The 39th running of the Breeders' Cup World Championships will be televised live by NBC Sports Group.

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