Breeders’ Cup Increases Purses for Juvenile, Mile

When the Breeders’ Cup returns to California in October, for the first time since 1997, participants in two of the eight races will be shooting for bigger purses.

Breeders’ Cup Ltd. and National Thoroughbred Racing Assn. officials announced Monday a purse increase of $1 million to be split between the Juvenile and the Mile.

The total purse on each race will now be $1.5 million and the total prize money $14 million.

The increases were approved by the Breeders’ Cup and the NTRA boards of directors earlier this year.

At the same time, entry fees have been raised from 2% to 3% to finance the increased purses.

D.G. Van Clief, the president of the Breeders’ Cup, said there was a “double rationale” on why the Mile and Juvenile were bumped to $1.5 million.

“It was done from both an industry and event perspective,” he said. “They are among our most attractive races, both to horsemen and fans, and, historically, produce large fields each year.”

Scheduled for Santa Anita on Oct. 25, the Breeders’ Cup will be run at Lone Star Park in Texas in 2004 and an agreement in principle has been reached with the New York Racing Assn. to hold the event at Belmont Park in 2005.

Representatives from the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club and the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority made 45-minute presentations Friday in Lexington, Ky., to Breeders’ Cup and NTRA officials regarding Breeders’ Cups in 2007, 2008 or beyond.

Neither of the New Jersey tracks, Monmouth Park and the Meadowlands, nor Del Mar has ever had the Breeders’ Cup.

In other developments, Dodge became the title sponsor of the Breeders’ Cup Classic, at $4 million the richest race in North America, starting in 2004, and Nextel Communications became the title sponsor of the $2-million Breeders’ Cup Distaff, a race for fillies and mares, also effective in 2004.

Each sponsor signed a three-year deal, Dodge for $3 million a year, Nextel for $1 million annually, according to a racing source with knowledge of the negotiations.