BC Challenge a Lucrative Entry for Starters

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This story originally appeared in the Oct. 25 issue of The Blood-Horse Magazine, no. 42. Purchase your copy today.

Trainer Ian Wilkes sometimes marvels at the financial burden often assigned to Thoroughbred owners in horse racing, which is why the "Win and You're In" Breeders' Cup Challenge, a program that can ease that burden, has Wilkes' enthusiastic support.

Now in its eighth year, the Breeders' Cup Challenge provides automatic bids to horses that win top stakes in the U.S. and throughout the world that correspond with one of the 13 Breeders' Cup World Championships races.

When launched in 2007, Challenge races awarded automatic berths to corresponding Breeders' Cup races, helping fans link the prep races to the Breeders' Cup. Since then, the Challenge has added financial rewards such as paid starter fees and travel expenses for Challenge winners that compete in the Breeders' Cup World Championships.

For the second year in a row, all Breeders' Cup starters based outside of California receive travel incentives. Those incentives have encouraged horse owners from throughout the country, and the world, to take their shot at racing in the World Championships.

Wilkes saddled Janis Whitham's homebred Fort Larned   to a 2012 Classic (gr. I) victory at Santa Anita Park. Fort Larned earned his Classic berth with a victory in the 2012 Whitney Invitational Handicap (gr. I) at Saratoga Race Course, a "Win and You're In" race that awarded starter fees and a travel stipend.

"It's a great addition because it helps owners. Anything that can reduce the cost a bit for owners is a good thing," Wilkes said. "A lot of times the first thing we do in this business is we take things from the owners, let the owners pay for this or that. We ask so much of owners and we need owners in this sport, so I think anything like the Breeders' Cup Challenge is a big plus for the game."

Challenge race winners nominated to Breeders' Cup earn a waiver of starter fees for a corresponding Breeders' Cup race if they choose to compete. Pre-entry fees to a Breeders' Cup race are equal to 1% of the purse and entry fees are 1% of the purse, making paid starter fees to the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic a $100,000 value.



An added incentive is the awarding of $10,000 to the Breeders' Cup nominator of the horse, typically the breeder, when that horse wins a Challenge race.

Horses stabled in the U.S. but outside of California that start in Breeders' Cup races receive $10,000 in travel expenses. Horses stabled outside North America that start in Breeders' Cup races receive $40,000 in travel expenses. 

In 2012 and 2013, Breeders' Cup paid $4.075 million in starter fees and $2.19 million in travel expenses to Challenge winners.

Ron Beegle is part of the ownership group behind Majestic Harbor, who will have his Classic starter fees paid off through his victory in this year's Gold Cup at Santa Anita Stakes (gr. I), a "Win and You're In" race.

"For an ownership group like us, that $100,000 is all-important," Beegle said. "As owners in this sport go, we're a small group. So having the entry fees paid is significant."

Until 2010 the "Win and You're In" races ensured a starting spot in a corresponding Breeders' Cup race. In 2010 the Breeders' Cup stakes program, which added money to select stakes races throughout the country, was discontinued and money from that program was used to fund Challenge incentives. That year, $4 million had been allocated to 100 stakes races as part of the Breeders' Cup stakes program before it was discontinued.

Trainer Tom Proctor likes the current Challenge program but favored the former approach.

"It gave guys at River Downs or Tampa (Bay Downs), places like that, a chance to make a little money," Proctor said. "Wherever they had those races, it was a pretty good deal."

Trainer Chad Brown likes the current Challenge race incentives but said sometimes he is surprised at which races are included. He'd like to see more races added.

"I don't quite understand how they choose which races to include," Brown said. "There certainly are some other races that would deserve to be included. Saying that, overall I think it's a good program."

The majority of this year's 71 races, 45, were contested in the U.S. or Canada. The remaining 26 were in 11 other countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Peru, and South Africa. Paying travel expenses for international horses puts Breeders' Cup in line with other international events that typically pay travel fees for overseas shippers.

One of the Challenge program's biggest success stories is 2012 Marathon (gr. II) winner Calidoscopio, the first South American horse to win a Breeders' Cup race in his North American debut. With some of the risk reduced through having travel expenses and starter fees paid, the connections wisely decided to make the long trip. After earning $583,154 in 39 South American starts, Stud Dona Pancha's Calidoscopio took less than three minutes to earn $270,000 with his Marathon win.

Breeders' Cup vice president Dora Delgado, who oversees Breeders' Cup racing and nominations, said the current Challenge program specifically awards connections that compete in the Breeders' Cup World Championships. She said it's been exciting to see owners target Challenge races as awareness of the benefits has increased. Last year 36 World Championships participants earned automatic starting positions through the Breeders' Cup Challenge series.

"The Breeders' Cup Challenge series continues to be an excellent path for horsemen to secure automatic starting berths, with fees paid, for their runners to qualify into the Championships," said Breeders' Cup president Craig Fravel at the launch of this year's series. "We were very proud of the large number of Challenge starters that competed in last year's event and are looking forward to attracting more horses this year as we welcome our new racetrack partners that have joined the series for the 2014 season."

The program is helping put accomplished horses in the World Championships. In all, 35 Challenge winners since 2007 have gone on to win Breeders' Cup races. Last year 38 of the 65 Challenge winners (58.5%) went on to compete in Breeders' Cup.

New York-bred Artemis Agrotera, who is campaigned by breeders Chester and Mary Broman, punched her Breeders' Cup ticket for a second straight season when she won this year's Ballerina Stakes (gr. I), a Challenge race at Saratoga to the DraftKings Filly & Mare Sprint (gr. I). Jeff Raine, the Bromans' farm manager, believes that besides providing lucrative incentives for connections, the Breeders' Cup Challenge continues to promote the World Championships and provides clarity to fans and potential owners, especially newcomers.

"It gives you another conversation piece, something to talk about with new fans. So many of the casual observers think the Breeders' Cup is just like the Kentucky Derby: one race," Raine said. "You have friends who really don't have a lot of in-depth knowledge about the business, but they like to go to the races and bet. This helps you explain to them that we're in a certain division and Breeders' Cup is a day of 13 huge races: 'We race in this division; other horses race in these divisions.' It's like spreading the word."

As part of that promotion of Breeders' Cup, and horse racing in general, 18 Challenge races were televised this year in 11 broadcasts by NBC and NBC Sports Network.