The Breeders’ Cup has increased the purses for the Breeders’ Cup Classic and the Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf, starting with this year’s Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., on November 4-5. The Classic, run at 1 ¼ miles on the main track for 3-year-olds and older, will now carry a total guaranteed purse of $6 million and the Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf, run at 1 ½ miles for 3-year-olds and up, will now have a purse of $4 million.
Total purses and awards for the 2016 Breeders’ Cup, which includes 13 grade one races held over two days, will be a record $28 million.
This will be the first purse increases on any of the Breeders’ Cup races since 2006. From 2006 through 2015 the Breeders’ Cup Classic was contested for a purse of $5 million and the Turf carried a $3 million purse. In 2007, the Breeders’ Cup expanded to a two-day event and added three races to the card, but purses for the existing Championship races remained the same.
First place prize for this year’s Classic will be $3,300,000, and the first place prize for the Turf will be $2,200,000.
The purse increases to both races were approved by the Breeders’ Cup Board of Directors in February.
In addition to the increase in purses, Breeders’ Cup will now pay down to the 8th finish position on every Championship race, increasing the number of horses who receive purse distributions from 40 percent of starters to 65 percent.
“In our efforts to provide our horsemen and fans with the best product in international racing, we are pleased to announce purse increases for both the Classic and the Longines Turf beginning with this year’s event at Santa Anita,” said Craig Fravel, Breeders’ Cup President and CEO, in a release announcing the purse increases. “Since our inception, one of the founding principles of the Breeders’ Cup has been to offer unprecedented purses on our races as incentive to keep the stars of our sport on the track and extend their racing careers. While the Classic and the Turf mark our first purse increases to individual races since 2006, our goal is to continue to find ways to raise purse levels on our races in the future.”
The first of seven Breeders’ Cup Challenge series automatic qualifying races for the Classic begins Saturday at Churchill Downs with the Stephen Foster Handicap.