2015 Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series

2015 Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series

The 2015 Breeders’ Cup will be held at Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Kentucky on October 30 and October 31.

Prior to the Breeders’ Cup, there is a chance for horses to earn their spot to participate at the Thoroughbred World Championship via the Breeders’ Cup Challenge.

The Breeders’ Cup Challenge is a series of 78 races that allow horses to clinch a spot in one of the Breeders’  Cup races.

From the Breeders’ Cup Challenge release, “Breeders’ Cup will provide travel allowances to all starters outside of Kentucky 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 in North America, a $10,000 travel allowance for winners stabled outside of Kentucky. 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 19 to receive the rewards.”

Some of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge races will be televised as well. The entire television schedule can be found here, but some of the highlights are the Sword Dancer Invitational and Travers Stakes from Saratoga on August 29, the Spinaway Stakes and Woodward Handicap a week later (9/5) from Saratoga. In addition, there will be 5 races televised from Belmont Park and Keeneland on October 3 and October 4.

Below is table of each race with the date, track (location in parentheses), grade/group status, age and sex restrictions, the division (i.e. Mile, Classic, etc.) and the winner of the race.

A race preview and recap will be provided for nearly all the United States races, but some international previews and recaps may be unavailable.