By DRF.com
LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 24, 2014) — Breeders’ Cup and Keeneland Race Course officials confirmed Tuesday that the historic track in Lexington, Ky., will serve as the host site for next year’s championship event. The race dates will be Friday, Oct. 30, 2015 and Saturday, Oct. 31, 2015. At the same time, Breeders’ Cup confirmed that Santa Anita Park will host the event Nov. 4-5, 2016, and that Del Mar will host Nov. 3-4, 2017. The host site plans were first reported last week, but Breeders’ Cup officials and the three tracks had declined comment until a series of press conferences on Tuesday morning.
Keeneland and Del Mar will both be first-time hosts, making them the 11th and 12th tracks, respectively, to host the event, first held in 1984. Santa Anita, which hosts for a third consecutive time this year, will push its record to nine times with the 2016 event, and will at that point have hosted in six of the last nine years.
“A trip to Keeneland is a homecoming for the event and a celebration of the culture of racing and breeding at its highest level,” said Breeders’ Cup chairman Bill Farish.
A video that accompanied Keeneland’s host site pitch highlighted the Kentucky roots of the Breeders’ Cup, conceived by John Gaines, and the community’s connection to winners via the local breeding farms, racetracks, and annual sales.
“From all of us in the breeding community, the only thing I can say is – welcome home,” Keeneland President and CEO Bill Thomason said. “We’re so glad and so happy to have you. Nowhere in the world is the horse more revered than where we’re standing right now. … Special horses have prepped here – Wise Dan, Groupie Doll, Forever Together, Street Sense – so many others prepped here to get ready for their Breeders’ Cup runs.”
Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear was also on hand for the announcement, leading a champagne toast to Keeneland.
Keeneland officials said that more than 7,000 premium seats, including new box seats, dining, and hospitality areas, will be added to the track’s current seating capacity for the event. Total reserved seating capacity will be 21,000, including seating in the adjacent sale pavilion and a new entertainment center. General admission tickets, including tailgating areas, will also be available. Ticketing and pricing information for the event is pending.
Thomason said there are no plans to install light fixtures at Keeneland for the races, as the event will fall during Daylight Savings Time, making it possible for the marquee events on the programs – the Classic, on Saturday, and the Distaff, on Friday – to be run in natural daylight. In recent years, due to its West Coast location, the Breeders’ Cup has favored a “prime time” slot for the Classic, with the last two editions at Santa Anita going off at roughly 8:45 p.m. Eastern. In 2010 and 2011, when the event was held at Churchill Downs, it was contested under the lights.
Both Keeneland and Del Mar will have converted from synthetic to conventional dirt surfaces prior to their Breeders’ Cup host engagements. Keeneland’s removal of Polytrack is currently underway and is expected to be completed by Sept. 1, with the 2014 fall meet opening Oct. 3. In addition, Del Mar is in the process of expanding its turf course to accommodate larger fields for the Breeders’ Cup.
Keeneland officials also announced that the traditional start date for its large November breeding stock sale, which normally begins during the week following the Breeders’ Cup, would not be changed in 2015. In recent years, winners of Breeders’ Cup races have occasionally been offered at both the Keeneland November auction and the one-day Fasig-Tipton November sale in Lexington, including 2012 and 2013 Filly and Mare Sprint winner Groupie Doll, who sold at Keeneland November last year.