The 2016 Breeders' Cup Challenge series will consist of 77 automatic qualifying races, including four new races, into the Breeders' Cup World Championships with 49 Challenge races held in the U.S. and Canada, and 28 races to be run outside of North America, it was announced Tuesday. Breeders' Cup will pay entry fees and provide travel allowances for the connections of the Challenge winners to compete in the Championships.
Click here for the complete 2016 “Win and You're In” schedule, which includes winners of the foreign qualifying races which have already been won.
Horses from around the globe will be qualifying for the 33rd Breeders' Cup World Championships, which will be held at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., on November 4-5, and televised live in the U.S. by the NBC Sports Group.
This year, the NBC Sports Group will also televise the “Breeders' Cup Challenge Win and You're In Series presented by Lane's End Farm and America's Best Racing,” featuring Challenge races across nine shows in the U.S. from June until the World Championships. Click here for the schedule.
The Breeders' Cup Challenge series, now in its ninth year, will be held at 12 countries: U.S., Canada, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Peru and South Africa.
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 also 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 and a $10,000 travel allowance for winners within North America that are stabled outside of California. The Challenge winner must already be nominated to the Breeders' Cup program or it must be done by the Championships' pre-entry deadline of October 24 to receive the rewards.
Last year, a record 39 participants in the Breeders' Cup World Championships earned automatic starting positions through the Breeders' Cup Challenge series with six winning their respective divisions: American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile), Classic; Stephanie's Kitten (Kitten's Joy), Filly & Mare Turf; Nyquist (Uncle Mo), Sentient Jet Juvenile; Songbird (Medaglia d'Oro), 14 Hands Winery Juvenile Fillies; Runhappy (Super Saver), TwinSpires Sprint; and Catch a Glimpse (City Zip), Juvenile Fillies Turf. A total of 25 Challenge-winning starters earned first- through fifth-place purse money in the 2015 World Championships.
“Over the years, horsemen around the world have realized that one of the best ways to qualify for the World Championships is through winning a Breeders' Cup Challenge race and receiving the added benefits of an automatic starting position and free entry provided in the series,” said Craig Fravel, Breeders' Cup President and CEO. “As we continue to encourage international participation in the Challenge series, we thank our partner race tracks and jurisdictions for their commitment in the administration and promotion of these races.”
The series includes four new races in 2016: The G1 Coolmore Legacy Queen of the Turf (Filly & Mare Turf), which was run Apr. 9 at Royal Randwick in Australia; G1 Gran Premio Club Hipico Falabella (Mile) at Club Hipico in Santiago, Chile May 25; G1 Gran Premio Pamplona at Hipodromo Monterrico (Filly & Mare Turf) in Lima, Peru June 26; and the G2 Derrinstown Stud Flying Five S. (Turf Sprint) at The Curragh in Ireland Sept. 11.
The first North American race of the series will be the GI Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita Park June 4 for an automatic berth into the Breeders' Cup Mile, followed by the GI Metropolitan H. (Dirt Mile) and the GI Ogden Phipps S. (Distaff) at Belmont Park June 11.
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