The 2015

Breeders' Cup The Breeders' Cup World Championships is an annual series of Grade I Thoroughbred horse races, operated by Breeders' Cup Limited, a company formed in 1982. From its inception in 1984 through 2006, it was a single-day event; starting in 2007, ...

World Championships was the 32nd edition of the

thoroughbred horse racing Thoroughbred racing is a sport and industry involving the racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport – flat racing and jump racing, the latter known as National Hunt racing in t ...

season-ending premier event held on October 30 and 31 at

Keeneland Keeneland Association, Inc. is an equine business based in Lexington, Kentucky. It includes two distinct divisions: the Keeneland Race Course, a Thoroughbred racing facility, and Keeneland Sales, a horse auction complex. It is also known for it ...

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...

. The race series, held for the first time at Keeneland, required a significant amount of preparation to transform the small, historic track into a venue capable of handling large crowds, comprising 13 championship races held over a two-day period. The highlight of the series was the victory of

American Pharoah American Pharoah (foaled February 2, 2012) is a Thoroughbred racehorse who won the American Triple Crown and the Breeders' Cup Classic in 2015. He was the 12th Triple Crown winner in history, and in winning all four races, became the first ho ...

in the

Breeders' Cup Classic The Breeders' Cup Classic is a Grade I Weight for Age thoroughbred horse race for 3-year-olds and older run at a distance of on dirt. It is held annually at a different racetrack as part of the Breeders' Cup World Championships in late October o ...

, becoming the first horse in history to complete the

Grand Slam of Thoroughbred racing The Grand Slam of Thoroughbred racing is an informal name for the winning of four major Thoroughbred horse races in one season in the United States. The term has been applied to at least two different configurations of races, both of which inclu ...

, the three

Triple Crown Triple Crown may refer to: Sports Horse racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States) ** Triple Crown Trophy ** Triple Crown Productions * Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Trip ...

races plus the Classic. In the process he set a track record before a record crowd for the Keeneland facility.

Breeders' Cup Challenge series

The Breeders' Cup Challenge is a series of races that provide the winners of designated races with automatic "Win and You're In" berths in a specified division of the Breeders' Cup. For qualifying horses, the Breeders' Cup organization covers the entry fee and provides a travel allowance of up to $40,000 for the connections of horses from overseas. Thirty-nine horses entered in the Breeders' Cup races qualified via the challenge series, including six of the winners. These were: *

, who qualified for the Classic by winning the

Haskell Invitational The Haskell Stakes is a Grade I American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds run over a distance of miles on the dirt held annually in July at Monmouth Park Racetrack in Oceanport, New Jersey. The event is a signature event at Monmouth P ...

* Stephanie's Kitten, who won the Flower Bowl Invitational to qualify for the Filly & Mare Turf * Nyquist, won the

FrontRunner FrontRunner is a commuter rail train operated by the Utah Transit Authority that operates along the Wasatch Front in north-central Utah with service from the Ogden Intermodal Transit Center in central Weber County through Davis County, Salt ...

to qualify for the Juvenile *

Songbird A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds (Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as the scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin ''oscen'', "songbird". The Passeriformes contains 500 ...

, who earned her berth for the Juvenile Fillies in the

Chandelier A chandelier (; also known as girandole, candelabra lamp, or least commonly suspended lights) is a branched ornamental light fixture designed to be mounted on ceilings or walls. Chandeliers are often ornate, and normally use incandescent li ...

Runhappy Runhappy (foaled March 4, 2012) is a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who was the 2015 American Champion Sprint Horse after winning six consecutive races including the King's Bishop Stakes, Phoenix Stakes, Breeders' Cup Sprint, and Mali ...

, who qualified for the Sprint by winning the

Phoenix Stakes The Phoenix Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Ireland open to two-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at the Curragh over a distance of 6 furlongs (1,207 metres), and it is sch ...

* Catch a Glimpse, who won the

Natalma Stakes The Natalma Stakes is a Canadian Thoroughbred horse race held annually at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario. Run in mid-September, the Grade I race is run at a distance of one mile (8 furlongs) on turf and is open to two-year-old fillies. In 2 ...

to qualify for the Juvenile Fillies Turf

Event preparation

In 2014, the management of Keeneland began to replace the synthetic

Polytrack The track surface of a horse racing track refers to the material of which the track is made. There are three types of track surfaces used in modern horse racing. These are: *Turf, the most common track surface in Europe *Dirt, the most common track ...

racing surface of its main race track with dirt. While the synthetic surface, installed in 2006, was considered safer for horses, it also was not popular with horse owners because it was too different from the dirt tracks where many major races were held. Returning the track to a dirt surface was a significant factor in Keeneland's bid to host the Breeders' Cup in 2015. The Keeneland bid was successful and was officially announced on June 24, 2014. 2015 was the first year that the Breeders' Cup had ever been held at Keeneland. A track built in 1935 as "a model race track, to perpetuate racing in the proper manner", it had never handled crowds of the size anticipated for the Breeders' Cup and thousands of temporary seats had to be added without removing trees or otherwise changing the classic appearance of the facility. But with a facility, there was room to be flexibile. Track management decided to only offer 28,000 reserved seats and further required that all tickets for both reserved and general admission be purchased in advance. They created seating in buildings adjacent to the existing grandstands and set up large tents and other temporary facilities, plus two tailgate areas with big-screen televisions for additional spectators. Keeneland's organizers estimated they would be able to host about 45,000 people. The configuration of the Keeneland racetrack is unique compared to previous Breeders' Cup venues, requiring some races to be held at different distances than previous Breeders' Cups. The dirt track is a oval with two possible finish lines, and the turf course is

furlong A furlong is a measure of distance in imperial units and United States customary units equal to one eighth of a mile, equivalent to 660 feet, 220 yards, 40 rods, 10 chains or approximately 201 metres. It is now mostly confined to use in hors ...

s () with a homestretch that is one of the longest in the United States. The use of the alternate finish line on the dirt course for the Dirt Mile, Juvenile, and Juvenile Fillies raised the possibility of confusing the jockeys, and the long turf stretch was viewed as giving a heavy advantage to closers. The

Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile The Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile is a Weight for Age stakes race for thoroughbred racehorses three years old and up. As its name implies, it is part of the Breeders' Cup World Championships, the ''de facto'' year-end championship for North American t ...

had an unorthodox setup because Keeneland does not regularly hold 1–mile dirt races. To get the proper distance while maximizing the run-up to the first turn, the

starting gate A starting gate also called a starting barrier or starting stalls is a machine used to ensure a fair start to in horse racing and dog racing. History Throughout the history of horse racing, there have been proposals as to how better to start ...

was set in front of the one-mile pole, where the timer would start, and the finishing line was set at the track's alternate finish line at the mile pole, thus the race was slightly longer than a mile for the horses. Keeneland held four races at that distance in the 2015 Fall meet to test the configuration. The Filly & Mare Turf was conducted at miles because the track's turf course configuration does not allow for the usual distance of mile. Also due to the configuration of the turf course, the Turf Sprint was held at furlongs for the first time the history of the race, which had been run since 2008. Previously, the race was about furlongs when held on the "downhill turf course" at

Santa Anita Racetrack Santa Anita Park is a Thoroughbred racetrack in Arcadia, California, United States. It offers some of the prominent horse racing events in the United States during early fall, winter and in spring. The track is home to numerous prestigious races ...

and 5 furlongs when held at

Churchill Downs Churchill Downs is a horse racing complex located on Central Avenue in south Louisville, Kentucky, United States, famed for hosting the annual Kentucky Derby. It officially opened in 1875 and was named for Samuel Churchill, whose family was ...

Results

The attendance at the 2015 Breeders' Cup set a record for the Keeneland race course. Over two days, total attendance was 95,102. Attendance on Friday, October 30, at 44,947, was the highest for a Friday since the Breeders' Cup became a two-day event in 2007. It also broke Keeneland's previous one-day record of 40,617, set in 2012. The attendance on Saturday was 50,155. While the total attendance figure over two days was not a Breeders' Cup record, the Keeneland facility received high marks for its facilities. While the total

parimutuel Parimutuel betting or pool betting is a betting system in which all bets of a particular type are placed together in a pool; taxes and the "house-take" or "vigorish" are deducted, and payoff odds are calculated by sharing the pool among all winnin ...

wagering handle was comparable to other years, at $150,574,656, the figures for bets at the Keeneland track itself were higher than the handle in the previous year when the Breeders' Cup was at

. Wagering on all races Friday, including the six non-Breeders' Cup races held earlier in the day was $44,949,165 total, 1.9% lower than in 2014, but with $7,550,279 of that bet at Keeneland, which was an 8% increase for betting on-site. Each day's program included several undercard stakes races. Friday had 10 races total, four of which were Breeders' Cup championships. The most-anticipated race on Friday was the

Breeders' Cup Distaff The Breeders' Cup Distaff is a Weight for Age Thoroughbred horse race for fillies and mares, 3 years old and up. Known as the Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic between 2008 and 2012, it is held annually at a different racetrack in the United States or ...

for fillies and mares, won by the four-year-old campaigner, Stopchargingmaria. Saturday hosted 12 races, nine of which were part of the Breeders' Cup program, including the

Breeders' Cup Turf The Breeders' Cup Turf is a Weight for Age Thoroughbred horse race on turf for three-year-olds and up. It is held annually at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the Breeders' Cup World Championships. The race's current ...

, which drew the British-bred

Epsom Derby The Derby Stakes, also known as the Epsom Derby or the Derby, and as the Cazoo Derby for sponsorship reasons, is a Group 1 flat horse race in England open to three-year-old colts and fillies. It is run at Epsom Downs Racecourse in Surrey o ...

and

Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris, France, over a distance ...

winner

Golden Horn The Golden Horn ( tr, Altın Boynuz or ''Haliç''; grc, Χρυσόκερας, ''Chrysókeras''; la, Sinus Ceratinus) is a major urban waterway and the primary inlet of the Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey. As a natural estuary that connects with t ...

and the much-anticipated

, where

would challenge older horses for the first time in his career. For both horses, their contests would be the last time each would race before being retired to

stud Stud may refer to the following terms: Animals * Stud (animal), an animal retained for breeding ** Stud farm, a property where livestock are bred Arts and entertainment * Stud (band), a British progressive rock group * The Stud (bar), a gay bar ...

. Golden Horn struggled with the sand-based turf course and was second to the Irish

filly A filly is a female horse that is too young to be called a mare. There are two specific definitions in use: *In most cases, a ''filly'' is a female horse under four years old. *In some nations, such as the United Kingdom and the United States, t ...

Found. American Pharoah, coming off of a defeat in his previous race and a two-month layoff, led wire-to-wire in the Classic and won by

lengths Length is a measure of distance. In the International System of Quantities, length is a quantity with dimension distance. In most systems of measurement a base unit for length is chosen, from which all other units are derived. In the Intern ...

, becoming the first horse to win the

, consisting of the

plus the Classic. With his win, he also broke the Keeneland track record for the distance.

Friday, October 30

Saturday, October 31

Notes

References

{{Thoroughbred Racing on NBC

Breeders' Cup

Breeders' Cup 2015