The Breeders' Cup was the brainchild of some of the leading thoroughbred horse breeders in the Kentucky area. The likes of John R. Gaines discussed the lack of an annual championship for their horses to race against the best at the end of each season, and so the Breeders' Cup was born.
Established in 1984, the inaugural Breeders' Cup was staged at Inglewood’s Hollywood Park racetrack in California. The first Breeders' Cup staged seven races on its card, including the headline Breeders' Cup Classic, which remains the most prestigious of all the Breeders' Cup events today.
Due to popular demand, in 2007 the Breeders' Cup schedule was expanded to incorporate an additional four events, extending the Breeders' Cup over two days rather than one. Most Breeders' Cup races are now raced on artificial surfaces as opposed to traditional dirt tracks. Although the Breeders' Cup is still by no means as long as the likes of Cheltenham Festival, the Breeders' Cup entries are a true celebration of the best North American racing has to offer.
As always at RacingPicks, our handicappers preview all the biggest meets and races so you don't have to! Our main man Matt Bernier was joined by Mike Mutnansky recently to run through their thoughts on this year's Breeders Cup at Keeneland.
Matt Bernier and Andrew Champagne will provide written analysis over on our Expert Picks section for both Friday and Saturday's action.
Horse | Odds |
---|---|
Improbable | 100/30 |
Tiz The Law | 100/30 |
Authentic | 6/1 |
Maximum Security | 6/1 |
Tom's D'etat | 6/1 |
Swiss Skydiver | 11/1 |
By My Standards | 25/1 |
Horse | Odds |
---|---|
Kameko | 4/1 |
Uni | 5/1 |
Raging Bull | 6/1 |
Ivar | 8/1 |
Ivar | 7/1 |
Siskin | 10/1 |
Safe Voyage | 12/1 |
Horse | Odds |
---|---|
Magical | 11/4 |
Tarnawa | 7/2 |
Mogul | 7/2 |
Lord North | 7/1 |
United | 10/1 |
Channel Maker | 11/1 |
Mean Mary | 16/1 |
All odds taken from UK bookmakers and correct as of 11/02/2020.
The new two-day Breeders' Cup is usually scheduled over the first full weekend of November. The first day is normally a Friday, which is labelled “Future Stars Friday”, including five Breeders' Cup races staged exclusively for two-year-olds.
The Saturday then welcomes Breeders' Cup entries of all other ages, with nine top-grade races scheduled, culminating in the $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic that’s usually the final race of the entire event.
The location of the Breeders' Cup changes year-to-year. In 2020, the Breeders Cup is staged at Lexington’s Keeneland Racetrack in Kentucky. The 2020 Breeders' Cup will take place on November 6 & 7, with Keeneland one of the most celebrated and quintessential locations for US horse racing.
Although it’s still very early days, there is already plenty of conjecture about which horses have what it takes to scoop the next Breeders' Cup Classic. The main contenders for November 2020 include a string of Grade 1 winners:
• Catholic Boy
• Game Winner
• McKinzie
• Thunder Snow
This quartet look like being the most favored thoroughbreds to go on and win the $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic in November. That’s because these horses are likely to be the most battle-hardened Breeders' Cup entries, with several Grade 1 wins to their name already.
Zenyatta made history by becoming the first filly to win the Breeders' Cup Classic and the first ever horse to win two Breeders' Cup races.
Widely regarded as securing one of the biggest shocks in Breeders' Cup history, Court Vision snatched the Breeders' Cup Mile by a nose over Turallure.
Volponi bagged the 2002 Breeders' Cup Classic at the second longest odds of any Classic winner, with an almighty display of power in the final six furlongs to win by six-and-a-half lengths.
Most Breeders' Cup Wins For A Trainer | ||||
Trainer | Wins | |||
D. Wayne Lukas | 20 | |||
Bob Baffert | 14 |
Bob Baffert is still very active as a trainer and will be desperate to try and surpass the current record for winners set by D. Wayne Lukas.
Most Breeders' Cup Wins For A Jockey | ||||
Jockey | Wins | |||
Mike Smith | 26 | |||
John R. Velazquez | 15 | |||
Jerry Bailey | 15 |
Mike Smith is way out in front as the most successful jockey in Breeders' Cup history. The New Mexican’s success in these championships also puts him second on the all-time earnings list of jockeys worldwide.
Providing online sports betting is permitted in your state, you can bet on the Breeders Cup online with numerous US sportsbooks. At RacingPicks, we compare the leading sportsbooks to help you find the best value for your Breeders Cup selections.
Thinking of making your Breeders Cup picks soon? Check out the latest Breeders Cup entries and prices on this page to get the best available odds for your horses.
As with any trip to the racetrack, you can make Breeders' Cup picks on win, place and show bet markets. You can also select horses to finish first and second in the right order, known as an Exacta bet. Trifecta bets operate the same way, except you have to correctly guess who’s finishing first, second and third. Pick 3, 4, 5 or 6 bets require you to correctly pick the winners of up to six consecutive Breeders' Cup races to bag a huge payday.
Each race hosted as part of the Breeders' Cup offers a prize fund of no less than $1 million. In fact, the Breeders' Cup Classic, typically has a prize fund of at least $6 million.
It would appear there is some merit in being drawn in the early stalls at the Breeders' Cup. Stalls one, two, four and five have yielded more than 30 winners, compared with stalls ten, 12, 13 and 14 which have yielded fewer than 20 Breeders' Cup winners.
Not at all. In fact, the number of overseas horses entering the Breeders' Cup appears to be rising year-on-year. Don’t be surprised to find more European entrants attempting to eclipse the achievements of Arcangues back in 1993.
The Breeders' Cup results show that most horses that win at the Breeders' Cup tend to do so at relatively low odds. It’s an event where favorites tend to fare much better than outsiders. However, in 1993, the world of horse racing was stunned to watch 133/1 outsider, Arcangues, a French thoroughbred that had never raced on a dirt track before, win the Classic with relative ease.