2015 Breeders' Cup
| Championship Event Series race | |
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| Location | Lexington, Kentucky |
|---|---|
| Race type | Thoroughbred |
| Website | www |
| Race information | |
| Distance | See individual races |
| Surface | Turf, Dirt |
| Purse | Varies by Race; Between $1,000,000 – $5 million |
The 2015 Breeders' Cup World Championships was the 32nd edition of the thoroughbred horse racing season-ending premier event held on October 30 and 31 at Keeneland in Lexington, Kentucky. 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 in the Breeders' Cup Classic, becoming the first horse in history to complete the "grand slam" of the three Triple Crown races plus the Classic. In the process he set a track record before a record crowd for the Keeneland facility.
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:
In 2014, the management of Keeneland began to replace the synthetic Polytrack 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 1,100 acres (450 ha) 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.
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