The Breeders' Cup Classic and Longines Breeders' Cup Turf will receive purse increases, starting with this year's Breeders' Cup World Championships at Santa Anita, to be held Nov. 4-5, the organization announced Monday. The Classic will now carry a total guaranteed purse of $6 million, up from the $5 million it's been since 2005, and the Turf will now have a purse of $4 million, bumped up from the $3 million it's been since 2007.
Total purses and awards for the 2016 Breeders' Cup will be $28 million. First place for this year's Classic will pay out $3,300,000, while the winner of the Turf will receive $2,200,000. The purse changes to both races were approved by the Breeders' Cup Board of Directors in February.
On top of the purse hike, Breeders' Cup races will now pay down to the eighth-place finisher, increasing the number of horses who receive purse distributions from around 40% of starters to approximately 65%. All international starters will receive a $40,000 shipping stipend and North American starters stabled outside of California will get $10,000 for shipping.
“In our efforts to provide our horsemen and fans with the best product in international racing, we are pleased to announce purse increases for both the Classic and the Longines Turf beginning with this year's event at Santa Anita,” said Breeders' Cup President and CEO Craig Fravel. “Since our inception, one of the founding principles of the Breeders' Cup has been to offer unprecedented purses on our races as incentive to keep the stars of our sport on the track and extend their racing careers.”
The first of seven Breeders' Cup Challenge series automatic qualifying races for the Classic will take place June 18 with the Stephen Foster H. at Churchill Downs. Effinex (Mineshaft), runner-up in last year's Breeders' Cup Classic, is among those expected to start.
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