Breeders’ Cup Will Increase Its Purses to $20 Million

Seeking to protect itself from competition by rich international races in such places as Dubai and Japan, the Breeders’ Cup announced Tuesday it will increase its total purses to $20 million beginning in November at Churchill Downs.

The change marks a 43% increase from last year’s total purses of $14 million. Purses for the eight-race card have doubled since the first Breeders’ Cup in 1984 at Hollywood Park offered purses of $10 million for a seven-race card.

“We try to keep an eye on competition around the world,” said William S. Farish Jr., chairman of the board for the Breeders’ Cup. “The board thought it was time.”

The increase in purses also coincides with the Breeders’ Cup’s previously announced move to ESPN after being televised by NBC since its inception.

The purse for the Breeders’ Cup Classic will increase by $1 million to $5 million. It is the world’s second-richest purse behind the $6 million Dubai World Cup. The Breeders’ Cup Turf will carry a purse of $3 million, also a $1 million increase, and the other six races will have purses of $2 million.

“I look at this as a preemptive move more as opposed to a reactive move,” said D.G. Van Clief Jr., president of the Breeders’ Cup and commissioner of the National Thoroughbred Racing Assn. “We just thought it was time to make a major move to solidify without a doubt this is the most important day of racing in the world.”

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Showing Up, who suffered a puncture wound in his right front leg in winning the Lexington Stakes on April 22 at Keeneland, looks as if he will show up at Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby.

“He’s ready, as long as the wound doesn’t flare up,” trainer Barclay Tagg said. “We have to stop treating him with antibiotics, because, of course, he can’t race with them.”

Tagg said he would ship Showing Up from Belmont Park to Louisville on Thursday morning if he is entered in the Derby.

If Showing Up is in the race and there are no other defections, Sunriver and Sacred Light figure to be left out because the field is limited to the top 20 based on graded-stakes earnings.

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Balance, a Thunder Gulch filly trained by David Hofmans and ridden by Victor Espinoza, was installed as the 2-1 morning-line favorite for Friday’s $685,900 Kentucky Oaks after drawing post-position No. 4.

The filly passed a test by galloping on a wet track after morning rains Tuesday.

“I wasn’t sure if she would handle it OK,” Hofmans said. “I felt the track was safe enough, and I wanted her to get over it to see if she handled it. She seemed to handle it really well.”