The Breeders' Cup is a relatively new event compared to such famous horse races as the Kentucky Derby and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, but in its short history it has grown to become the "World Championships" and the year-end goal of most horsemen. In the early 1980's, John R. Gaines, owner of Gainesway Farm in Lexington, felt that horse racing needed a championship event in the late fall for the major age and sex divisions. Until then, the big fall championship races were scattered across several tracks, including the fall meets at Belmont Park, Churchill Downs, Hollywood Park, and Oak Tree at Santa Anita. The objective was to settle the year-end awards on the track rather than the ballot box and to present the sport positively to the general public by having the sport's equine and human superstars on a major TV network in a 4 hour telecast.
Gaines did not have industry-wide support initially, and he had to convince the major commercial breeders to support the idea as they would fund a large part of the program's expenses through stallion and foal nomination fees. With the industry supporting him, he announced the plan at the 1982 Kentucky Derby Festival for an unprecedented $10 million race day for the world's best thoroughbred horses called the Breeders' Cup, headlined by the $3 million Classic which be the richest horse race in the world at the time. To keep smaller breeders from withdrawing their support, Gaines also devised the Breeders' Cup National Stakes program, a series of races across North America with part of the purse funded by the Breeders' Cup to be paid out only to nominated horses.
In Februrary of 1983, Hollywood Park was named the host of the inaugural Breeders' Cup, selected since the board felt the first running should be in a warm climate for the benefit of television, a similar strategy employed by the Super Bowl. By September, a contract was signed with NBC, forming a partnership that would last until 2006. The very first Breeders' Cup race, the 1984 Juvenile, was won by Chief's Crown with the first Classic ending in a three horse photo where supplemental entry Wild Again won over Slew O'Gold and Gate Dancer.
Over time the Cup grew in number of races and in purses. The Filly and Mare Turf was introduced at Gulfstream Park in 1999 and at Monmouth Park in 2007 another three races were added (Dirt Mile, Juvenile Turf, and Filly and Mare Sprint) and the event was expanded to a two-day Friday-Saturday format for the 11 race program. In 2008 at Santa Anita, three more races were added (Juvenile Fillies Turf, Turf Sprint, and Marathon) bringing the total number of Championship races to 14, doubling the original total. The Classic was increased to $4 million in 1996 at Woodbine, the Distaff (since renamed the Ladies' Classic) was increased to $2 million in 1998 at Churchill Downs, and then in 2006, also at Churchill, all the $1 million events were doubled to $2 million, the Turf increased from $2 million to $3 million, and the Classic was bumped up to $5 million. The new races added in 2007 and 2008 all have $1 million purses except the Marathon at $500,000.
The Breeders' Cup has always been rotated among various host tracks including Hollywood Park, Belmont Park, Aqueduct, Churchill Downs, Santa Anita, Gulfstream Park, Monmouth Park, Woodbine, Arlington Park, and Lone Star Park. The Oak Tree Meet at Santa Anita became the first ever to host the Championship races in consecutive years in 2008 and 2009. The 2010 running is scheduled for Churchill Downs which will make the Louisville, Kentucky, oval the first 7-time host. Currently the Breeders' Cup officials are working on coming up with a permanent 10 year rotation of tracks to debut in 2011, but that is still in the planning stages.
