The 2015 Breeders’ Cup is coming to Keeneland. Or at least that’s a prevailing horse industry rumor that, if true, would mark a major development for the Lexington racetrack and sales company and a new chapter for the fall championship racing series and the corporate entity that runs it.
Conceived by the late prominent horseman John R. Gaines as a marquee event to “give racing a year-end push that the public could identify with” and raise the national profile of the sport, the Breeders’ Cup was inaugurated in 1984 as one day of seven races worth $10 million. It’s grown to two days of 13 races worth $24.5 million and become the highest-profile event in American racing after the Kentucky Derby and Triple Crown.
A founding precept was that the Breeders’ Cup be held at different sites — a rotating series of top racetracks — to spur more industry buy-in and wider fan support. Since its inaugural running at Hollywood Park, the fabled California track that closed in December, the event has been held at 10 racetracks in seven states and one Canadian province. Churchill Downs has hosted it eight times.
Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., is host this year for a record third consecutive time and eighth time overall. Speculation is that the Breeders’ Cup wants to make the historic, art deco track — with its perennially perfect climate and proximity to haute Hollywood offerings — its permanent home as a way for the Breeders’ Cup and its broadcaster NBC to market racing as hip, red-carpet entertainment, transcendent of woe and bad weather. Not surprisingly, that notion hasn’t overwhelmed every industry stakeholder.
Enter Keeneland. At first, the bucolic, national historic landmark off Versailles Road that was traditional the day it opened in 1936 seems an odd fit for the Breeders’ Cup. It’s more intimate than grand, a considerably smaller facility — in physical plant, floor area and seating capacity — than Santa Anita, Churchill, Belmont (New York), Gulfstream (Florida) and most other previous Breeders’ Cup host tracks. It seats only 8,800 and its largest crowd ever has been 40,600. Compare that to Churchill, which seats 52,000 and accommodates 160,000 on Kentucky Derby day, or to last year’s Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita, which drew 94,600 over the two days, including 58,800 on Saturday.
But the internal political timing may be perfect. If Breeders’ Cup isn’t quite ready to pull the trigger and make Santa Anita its home, it needs to leave there and Southern California at least for a year. Churchill and Belmont, the two most logical 2015 choices, have seemingly fallen out of favor with Breeders’ Cup Ltd. The bottom line: Each of those tracks had been considered certain to host the event within the past three years, and each was passed over for Santa Anita.
Keeneland, in comparison, doesn’t come with much baggage. It’s not starry California, but it’s upscale, clubby and pristine — an Old Masters painting nestled in the heart of racing’s international breeding industry. That should televise well enough. And it doesn’t hurt that three Breeders’ Cup directors, including its chairman, William S. Farish Jr.,
are also Keeneland directors.
Consider all that and the obstacles to Keeneland’s hosting a Breeders’ Cup evaporate. Seating and floor space, the major concerns, can be addressed with the addition of temporary structures and facilities. And a synthetic track surface — a presumed deal-breaker for hosting a Breeders’ Cup, though Breeders’ Cup and tracks deny it’s so — is a non-issue, since Keeneland is removing its ballyhooed, eight-year-old Polytrack and reverting to dirt this summer. Del Mar racetrack near San Diego, the rumored front-runner for the 2016 event, is coincidentally also replacing its synthetic surface with dirt.
Keeneland president and CEO Bill Thomason confirmed the track has bid to host the 2015 Breeders’ Cup.
“It’s not guaranteed we get it,” he said, “but we’re excited about the opportunity.” He said Keeneland was “in the final stages, doing due diligence” with Breeders’ Cup “to make sure all of the components are in place if it does come here. We want to do it right. It would be a unique experience and a unique partnership of two brands — Keeneland and Breeders’ Cup.”
Thomason said he expects a decision from Breeders’ Cup “in the next 30 to 60 days.” A Breeders’ Cup spokesperson said only that the organization would announce its 2015 site “sometime in the next few months.” So, while rumor appears headed for reality, the official wait will continue.