Breeders’ Cup World Championships

The Breeders' Cup World Championships is an annual season ending event consisting of 13 Championship thoroughbred races run over two days which offers $26 million in purses and awards. It was created and is operated by Breeders' Cup Limited, a company formed in 1982. From its inception in 1984 through 2016, it was a single-day event; starting in 2007, it expanded to two days. The location changes each year. All sites have been in the United States, except in 1996, when the races were at the Woodbine Racetrack in Canada. The event was created as a unique year-end championship for North American thoroughbred racing and now attracts the top international equine athletes and their connections from around the world. Nearly 200 of the globe’s most talented Thoroughbreds compete over two days to claim their right to be named Breeders’ Cup Champion. The funding for the Breeders' Cup World Championships is primarily through the nomination payments of thoroughbred stallions and those stallion's offspring. The Breeders' Cup also administrates the Breeders' Cup Challenge, a series of Win & You're In races which guarantee a starting spot in a corresponding Breeders' Cup Championship race, pays entry fees, awards travel allowances and nominator awards to nominated horses. This series of Win & You're In races takes place at racetracks across North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, South Africa and South America.