Your guide to the Breeders Cup

What is the Breeders Cup?

The Breeders Cup is a huge weekend of action for horse racing fans, taking place in the USA. The meeting is over two days, Friday and Saturday, and on both days we have horses from all over the globe descending on the event to try and prove they are the best in their category. The meeting has a number of top quality races for all different types of horses, and although both days of the meeting are high class, the best races are reserved for Saturday.

Those who are familiar with big horse racing festivals in the UK should note that there is one big difference between our festivals and the Breeders Cup. That is that the Breeders Cup meeting moves around the USA, taking place at different tracks each year. This adds a completely different element when you are weighing up your options, so be sure to note where the meeting will take place and what the track is like. One thing you won’t need to worry about is the type of track that the races will be ran on. All US tracks used for the Breeders Cup are left handed oval tracks, offering very similar conditions to others across the country that may have been used in the past.

A brief history

The meeting began back in 1984, and for many years up until 2006, this meeting was ran over just one day. However, starting in 2007, and every year since that date, the meeting has been spread across two days, something which has really added to the occasion. The meeting has taken place in the USA every year, with the exception of 1996 when the meeting took place in Canada, at the Woodbine racecourse.

Prize money at the meeting is something that attracts people from all over the world, and the purses for each race are huge. With a new race added to the 2018 schedule, prize money has risen to over £30 million. While money like this continues to be spent on prizes, the number of foreign raiders on the US is only going to increase. Few other places offer you the chance to race your horses with the possibility of winning such large amounts of money, and owner and trainers are continuing to take advantage of this. The prize money on offer is a big reason why you will see so many contenders heading across from the UK and Ireland to take part in the races.

How to Bet on the Breeders Cup?

The way the current two day setup is split, the first day focuses on the future stars of horse racing, while the second day brings together some of the biggest stars in the world right now. Of the six races on day one, five are for two year olds, with the other race being the Breeders Cup Marathon.

The feature of day one is the Breeders Cup Juvenile, which brings together the best two year olds in the world for a race on the dirt track over one mile. The other big race of the night is the Juvenile Fillies, which is exactly the same race, but this time for fillies instead of colts and geldings.

The second day of the meeting is where the real stars come out, with nine Grade One races on the card. The feature of the day, and of the entire meeting is the Breeders Cup Classic, a race on the dirt ran over 1m2f with a prize of nearly two and a half million pounds to the winner.

Just before the Classic takes place we have the second biggest race of the meeting and that is the Breeders Cup Turf, where the winner gets £1.6 million. These two races will always have strong interest from the UK, especially the turf where you will usually find a few British runners taking part.

One of the biggest puzzles for punters to solve at the Breeders Cup is when horses are running on a surface for the first time. A lot of the UK runners will face dirt for the first time when they head over to the US, and working out whether they can handle it is very tough. There is also the travel to consider, the journey across before the race is a tough one and that is what makes it so hard for any horse from Europe to go to America and win.

One thing you can guarantee about the Breeders Cup meeting is that the horses taking part will have been trained with this race in mind for a long time. Being such a huge meeting, owners and trainers target there horses here, and everything will have been done to ensure they arrive as fit and ready as possible on the day, whether they have travelled half way around the world or they are a local runner. Everyone want to have a winner at the Breeders Cup, so preparations are as good as they ever will be.

Breeders Cup Betting Offer

betfair - Up To £25 Free Bet with Every 3/1+ Winner

If you are placing a bet at the Breeders Cup this weekend then be sure to take advantage of the many offers that are available for punters. One offer is the 3/1+ offer from betfair, which is usually for televised racing but they have extended the offer to cover the Breeders Cup.

With this offer, if you back a winner with an SP of 3/1 or greater, you will receive a free bet to the same value as your stake, up to a maximum of £25. This is a great way to pay for future bets, and the more winners you have at the Breeders Cup, the more free bets you will receive.

The races that are eligible for this promotion are listed below, in total there are five races on Friday and nine races on Saturday.

Friday: 7:21, 8:00, 8:40, 9:22, 10:05

Saturday: 4:00, 4:38, 5:16, 6.04, 6:46, 7:35, 8:16, 8:56, 9:45

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