Zenyatta sparks major gains for 2010 Breeders' Cup

Zenyatta (outside) couldn't catch Blame in deep stretch, but her presence provided a major boost to the attendance, handle and television ratings on the 2010 Breeders' Cup (Jamie Newell/Horsephotos.com) Riding a wave of interest powered by the story of almost perfect mare Zenyatta and her near repeat victory in the Classic (G1), Breeders' Cup officials are reporting record levels of business results and across the board increases from the 2009 Championships for their two-day World Championships held this past weekend at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. Both attendance and wagering handle for the 2010 Breeders' Cup World Championships increased by double-digits over the 2009 event at Santa Anita Park, Breeders' Cup officials announced after the conclusion of Saturday's races. The preliminary rating for the last hour of the ESPN broadcast of the Classic, from 6:15 p.m. until 7:15 (ET), was a 3.1, up 182 percent compared to a 1.1 preliminary rating for the broadcast last year, and preliminary ratings were up in Canada and Europe as well.

"The Breeders' Cup was created to showcase performances like those we

witnessed from Zenyatta, Blame, Goldikova (Ire) (Anabaa) and Uncle Mo (Indian

Charlie)," Breeders' Cup President and CEO Greg Avioli said. "We experienced

unprecedented levels of media coverage and are looking at record levels of

revenue and our highest television rating in nearly 15 years thanks in large

part to the phenomenon that is Zenyatta. We are grateful that we could provide

the platform to help bring the amazing stories of some of the greatest horses in

the world to a global audience of racing fans."

The two-day handle on the Breeders' Cup World Championships, including

separate pools in other countries and exchange wagering in the United Kingdom,

was $196,354,072. The two-day total, excluding exchange wagering, was

$173,339,131, an increase of 13 percent over the $153, 271,776 wagered in 2009.

The strong interest outside the United States was bolstered by a record number

of 172 entries in the 14 Breeders' Cup races, including European champions

Goldikova, Midday (GB) and Japanese stars Espoir City (Jpn) (Gold Allure) and

Red Desire (Jpn) (Manhattan Cafe). While total international entries declined

from a record 35 to 25, the two-day Championships attracted a record 143 horses

from North America. In total, there were 163 starters in the 14 Championships

races, which is also a Breeders' Cup record.

The common and separate pool handle for Saturday's 11-race card was

$118,631,943, an increase of 23 percent from the 2009 Saturday handle of

$96,159,747. The $54,707,188 wagered on Friday's card was an increase of 8

percent over the $50,662,945 bet on Friday's card in 2009. On-track handle

increased both days compared to 2009. Saturday's on-track handle was

$14,476,867, an increase of 19 percent over the $12,177,982, wagered on-track in

2009.

Wagering on the 14 Championships races rose over $21 million (16 percent) to

$157,878,232.

In addition to the wagering totals, Breeders' Cup and Churchill Downs sold

over $11 million in tickets to the two-day event. Total attendance for the two

days increased 18.5 percent from 96,496 in 2009 to 114,353 in 2010. After an 11

percent increase in attendance on Friday, 72,739 were on hand Saturday for the

11-race card that included eight Breeders' Cup World Championship races, a 23.6

percent increase from the 2009 Saturday attendance of  58,845 at Santa Anita.

Traffic to the Breeders' Cup web site and micro sites, also experienced

strong growth. Traffic to the Breeders' Cup main web site, www.breederscup.com,

was up 25 percent over 2009 and traffic to its specialty handicapping site,

www.breederscup360.com, was up 600 percent.

The Breeders' Cup iPhone and iPad apps, launched weeks before the event, were

the fourth most downloaded free sports applications in the iTunes App Store on

Saturday, and were downloaded in 86 countries around the world. The Breeders'

Cup digital marketing efforts were augmented by a social media push over the

weekend that activated nearly a dozen celebrities with over 5.7 million fans or

followers on Facebook and Twitter. These efforts helped Goldikova, Zenyatta and

Breeders' Cup become trending topics on Twitter during Saturday's races. The

Breeders' Cup also created and managed a Twitter handle for Zenyatta, which saw

a 33 percent increase in the number of followers during Breeders' Cup week.

"Creating compelling content and more ways for fans to interact with our

products has been one of the major points of our marketing effort this year,"

Avioli said. "Part of the Breeders' Cup's mission is to attract new investment

to Thoroughbred racing. Owners including celebrity chef Bobby Flay (More Than

Real [More Than Ready], Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf [G2]), Vitaminwater

founder Mike Repole (Uncle Mo, Breeders' Cup Juvenile [G1]) and Under Armor

entrepreneur Kevin Plank (Shared Account ([Pleasantly Perfect], Filly & Mare

Turf [G1]) were all first-time winners of Breeders' Cup races in 2010.

"It's great to see some of the new blood in our game rewarded with a

Breeders' Cup Championship, especially after the effect the economic downturn of

the last two years has had on the U.S. breeding industry," Avioli continued.

"One of the main objectives of the Breeders' Cup is to bring new owners to our

terrific sport at the highest level and this year was definitely a success in

that regard."