Breeders' Cup modifies overseas nominations program

To broaden international participation in its racing programs and increase

the number of the world's best horses eligible to participate in its year-end

championships, Breeders' Cup Limited will make major changes to its longstanding

nominations programs, Breeders' Cup officials announced Monday.

Beginning in January 2011, all foals sired by Breeders' Cup nominated

international stallions will be automatically eligible to participate in

Breeders' Cup races. To qualify for the new program, owners of stallions

standing outside North America in the Northern Hemisphere will pay an annual

nomination fee equal to 50 percent of their stallion's published stud fee and

owners of stallions standing in the Southern Hemisphere will pay a nomination

fee equal to 25 percent of their stallion's published stud fee. Breeders' Cup's

current North American nominations programs will remain unchanged.

In connection with the changes in the nominations program, Breeders' Cup also

will enhance the benefits for winning one of the Breeders' Cup Challenge

qualifying "Win and You're In" races by paying the entry fees and subsidizing

travel costs to the Championships for all Challenge winners who are Breeders'

Cup eligible. Breeders' Cup also will pay a new $10,000 award to the nominator

of any North American foal that wins a Challenge race.

"The Breeders' Cup World Championships is our flagship and the programs we

are unveiling today will make it an even stronger global competition moving

forward," Breeders' Cup Chairman Bill Farish said. "While some of these

initiatives are targeted at the overseas market, we believe that building our

global Championships and strengthening the Breeders' Cup's international brand

will directly support a stronger U.S. commercial Thoroughbred breeding and

racing market."

"Over the past few years, less than 2 percent of all international

Thoroughbreds have been eligible to run in our Championships," Breeders' Cup

President and CEO  Greg Avioli said. "We believe the new changes to expand

international eligibility along with the additional incentives for Challenge

winners and North American breeders should ensure we continue to draw the best

fields in the world to racing's premier event."

"For years Breeders' Cup has looked for ways to attract more interest and

participation from the top stables outside the U.S. and this new program is a

big step toward doing just that," said Clem Murphy, Senior Bloodstock Advisor,

Coolmore Stud, and Chairman of the Breeders' Cup Racing and Nominations

Committee that helped develop the new program. "Coolmore plans to take advantage

of this new program and we would encourage the leading breeding operations in

Europe, Asia, Australia and South America to do the same."

To jumpstart the international nominations program and increase the numbers

of eligible runners in the Championships from North America, Breeders' Cup will

offer a special one-time, fee-based "open enrollment" program in 2011 for

previously ineligible horses. This open enrollment program will be available

from February 1 through June 30, 2011 to any horse sired by stallions nominated

to the Breeders' Cup in 2011 according to the following fee schedule: yearlings

for $3,000, two-year-olds for $6,000 and three-year-olds and up for $25,000.

"This is a one-time incentive that we thought long and hard about," Avioli

said. "Initially, it was targeted to international participants but we

considered the overall fairness issues and the benefits this could provide

owners in the U.S. and Canada and decided it was in everyone's interest to offer

it on a worldwide basis."

In 2010, Breeders' Cup scheduled 66 Challenge races, 50 in the U.S. and

Canada, 16 in Europe, Asia and Australia. Breeders' Cup officials said the 2011

Challenge schedule would be announced later in the year.

International wagering on the Breeders' Cup World Championships has been a

significant growth area, increasing by 110 percent from $11 million to $23

million over the last five years. Since its Championships expanded to two days

in 2007, Breeders' Cup has grown the number of international starters from 12 to

34.

"We are fortunate that Thoroughbred racing is a global sport with strong

interest around the world," Avioli said. "We have concentrated on opening up new

markets for wagering over the last few years and the results have been

promising."