The 2018

Breeders' Cup The Breeders' Cup World Championships is an annual series of Graded stakes race, Grade I Thoroughbred racing, Thoroughbred horse races, operated by Breeders' Cup Limited, a company formed in 1982. From its inception in 1984 through 2006, it was ...

World Championships was the 35th edition of the premier event of the North American

thoroughbred horse racing Thoroughbred racing is a sport and Horse industry, industry involving the Horse racing, racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport – flat racing and jump racing, the latter know ...

year. The 14 races, all but one of which were

Grade I In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

, took place on November 2 and 3 at

Churchill Downs Churchill Downs is a horse racing complex in south Louisville, Kentucky, United States that hosts the annual Kentucky Derby. It opened in 1875 and was named for Samuel Churchill, whose family was prominent in Kentucky for many years. The first ...

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

. The races were telecast by

NBCSN NBCSN (also known as NBC Sports Network) was an American sports television television channel, channel owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It originally launched on July 1, 1995, as the Outdoor Lif ...

on Friday and early Saturday, and by

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

later on Saturday. The

is generally regarded as the end of the North American racing season, although a few Grade I events take place in later November and December. The event typically determines champions in many of the

Eclipse Award The Eclipse Award is an American Thoroughbred horse racing award named after the 18th-century British racehorse and sire, Eclipse. An Eclipse Award Trophy is presented to the winner in each division. The trophy is made by a few small selected A ...

divisions, although it was missing the eventual Horse of the Year, Triple Crown champion Justify, who was retired in July.

Qualifying

A maximum of 14 horses (12 in the Turf Sprint and Juvenile Turf Sprint) are allowed to start in each race. Horses can automatically qualify by winning one of the designated races in the Breeders' Cup Challenge series, which provide "Win and You're In" berths in a specified division of the Breeders' Cup. Other pre-entries are ranked by a points system and the judgement of a panel of experts. A record 221 pre-entries were taken on October 24. Twelve races, including the Classic, were over-subscribed, meaning more than 14 horses (12 in the Juvenile Turf Sprint) wished to enter. Forty-eight of the pre-entries were automatic qualifiers through the Challenge series. Five winners of Challenge series races went on to win their respective division at the Breeders' Cup: * Accelerate, who won the Classic, automatically qualified by winning both the Pacific Classic and

Awesome Again Stakes The Goodwood Stakes is a Grade I American Thoroughbred horse race for horses aged three years old or older over the distance of one and one-eighth miles on the dirt, scheduled annually in September at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. His ...

* Game Winner won the Juvenile after automatically qualifying by winning the

American Pharoah Stakes The American Pharoah Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually near the end of September during the fall meet at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. A Grade I event, it is open to two-year-old horses and is held at a distance ...

Sistercharlie Sistercharlie (foaled 13 March 2014) is a champion Irish-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 2018 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf and was the 2018 Champion Female Turf Horse. She also won the Prix Penelope, Jenny Wiley Stakes, Diana St ...

won the Filly & Mare Turf after automatically qualifying in the

Beverly D. Stakes The Beverly D. Stakes is a Grade II flat horse race in the United States for thoroughbred fillies and mares aged three years and upward over a distance of miles at Colonial Downs in New Kent County, Virginia. The event is a supporting stakes race ...

Roy H Roy H (foaled April 22, 2012) is a Thoroughbred racehorse who is the two time winner of the Breeders' Cup Sprint. He was named the American Champion Sprint Horse of 2017 and 2018. He did not start racing until age three, when he won only one ra ...

won the Santa Anita Sprint Championship and the Sprint * Jaywalk won both the Frizette Stakes and Juvenile Fillies

Event preparation

In April 2016, the

organization announced that

would host the event for the ninth time in 2018. As the home of the

Kentucky Derby The Kentucky Derby () is an American Graded stakes race, Grade I stakes Thoroughbred racing, race run at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. The race is run by three-year-old Thoroughbreds at a distance of . Colt (horse), Colts and geldin ...

, Churchill Downs had the capacity to host the large crowds and betting handle expected at the event. Churchill Downs underwent a $70 million upgrade to its facilities to secure the bid, focused on improved dining and viewing spaces. One of the major changes for 2018 was that the Friday card, dubbed "Future Stars Friday", featured five juvenile races (those restricted to two-year-old horses). This included a new race, the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, which was the only race in the series that was not a

event as it was not yet eligible for graded status. The Distaff, which had previously highlighted the Friday card, was held on Saturday.

Results

Friday, November 2

DSC 2696BulletinBCJTS.jpg, Bulletin DSC 2737Newspaperofrecord.jpg, Newspaperofrecord DSC 2779Jaywalk.jpg, Jaywalk DSC 2809LineofDuty.jpg, Line of Duty DSC 2886GameWinner.jpg, Game Winner The attendance on Friday was 42,249, up 29% from the previous year at Del Mar and up 4% over the last time the Breeders' Cup was held at Churchill Downs, in 2011. The total amount wagered on the 10 race card was $52,216,685, similar to the amount wagered in 2017. Game Winner was the easy winner of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile and established himself as the almost certain Champion two-year-old male horse and early favorite for the

2019 Kentucky Derby The 2019 Kentucky Derby (officially, the 2019 Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve) was the 145th running of the Kentucky Derby, and took place on Saturday, May 4, 2019, in Louisville, Kentucky. The field was open to 20 horses, who qua ...

. The balloting for Champion two-year-old filly will likely be close between Newspaperofrecord, winner of the Juvenile Fillies Turf, and Jaywalk, winner of the Juvenile Fillies. Dirt runners normally are given an edge in North America, but Newspaperofrecord's win on the turf was considered one of the outstanding performances of the event. Source: Equibase Charts The races were televised on

Saturday, November 3

DSC 2978ShamrockRose.jpg, Shamrock Rose - Filly & Mare Sprint DSC 3009StormyLiberal.jpg, Stormy Liberal - Turf Sprint DSC 3030CityofLight.jpg, City of Light - Dirt Mile DSC 3089Sistercharlie.jpg, Sistercharlie - Filly & Mare Turf DSC 2655RoyH.jpg, Roy H - Sprint DSC 3215ExpertEye.jpg, Expert Eye - Mile DSC 3292MonomoyGirl.jpg, Monomoy Girl - Distaff DSC 3339Enable.jpg, Enable - Turf DSC 3431Accelerate.jpg, Accelerate - Classic The Saturday card was watched by a crowd of 70,423, a major increase from the previous year's attendance at Del Mar, which had been capped at 37,500. However, the total amount bet on the nine Breeders' Cup races held on Saturday was down 4% from 2017. The weather was cool with the turf course officially listed as good, verging on yielding. The main track was officially listed as fast. The highlights were Accelerate's victory in the Classic and Enable's win in the Turf. Enable became the first horse to win the

Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe () is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris over a distance ...

and

Breeders' Cup Turf The Breeders' Cup Turf is a Weight for Age Thoroughbred horse race on turf for three-year-olds and up. It is held annually at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the Breeders' Cup World Championships. The race's current ...

in the same year. Her owner-breeder

Juddmonte Farms Juddmonte Farms is a horse breeding farm, owned until his death on 12 January 2021 by Prince Khalid bin Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. National Thoroughbred Racing Association"Juddmonte Farms, Inc.", profile. Retrieved October 16, 2007. Overview J ...

, trainer

John Gosden John Harry Martin Gosden (born 30 March 1951) is a British Horse trainer, racehorse trainer. He has trained over 3,000 winners worldwide, including victories in the Breeders' Cup Classic, the Epsom Derby, Derby, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, A ...

and jockey

Frankie Dettori Lanfranco "Frankie" Dettori (; born 15 December 1970), is an Italian jockey who was based in England for a career spanning over 35 years. He was British flat racing Champion Jockey three times (1994, 1995 and 2004) and rode the winners of 287 ...

also won the Mile with Expert Eye. Peter Miller became the first person to train back-to-back winners of two races after Stormy Liberal and

won the Turf Sprint and Sprint respectively. John Sadler, who saddled his first Breeders' Cup runner in 1988, earned his first win at the event with Accelerate in the Classic.

Brad Cox Brad J. Cox (May 2, 1944 – January 2, 2021) was an American computer scientist who was known mostly for creating the Objective-C programming language with his business partner Tom Love and for his work in software engineering (specifically so ...

also trained his first winner, Monomoy Girl in the Distaff. Irad Ortiz Jr. won the Shoemaker Award for outstanding jockey at the event after he won two races, the Juvenile Fillies Turf with Newspaperofrecord and the Filly & Mare Sprint with Shamrock Rose, plus scoring five more top four finishes.

Florent Geroux Florent Geroux (born July 16, 1986) is a French jockey who has earned over 1,700 wins in American thoroughbred horse racing, including the 2017 Breeders' Cup Classic on Gun Runner, two Breeders' Cup Distaff wins with Monomoy Girl, and the 20 ...

finished second in the standings after riding three winners over the weekend: Jaywalk in the Juvenile Fillies, Game Winner in the Juvenile and Accelerate in the Classic. Paco Lopez earned his first Breeders' Cup win aboard Roy H in the Sprint. With his win in the Classic, Accelerate cemented his chances to win the

for Champion Older Male Dirt Horse, and moved into consideration for

American Horse of the Year The American Award for Horse of the Year, or simply Horse of the Year, one of the Eclipse Awards, is the highest honor given in American thoroughbred horse racing. Because Thoroughbred horse racing in the United States has no governing body to san ...

. Similarly, Monomoy Girl "stands out" in the three-year-old filly division after winning the Distaff and Roy H locked up his second win in the Sprint division. The female turf horse division will likely be between Enable, who became the first horse to win the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and Breeders' Cup Turf in the same year, and Sistercharlie, with four Group I wins in North America including the Filly & Mare Turf. Source: Equibase Charts The early races were televised by NBCSN. The main NBC network broadcast the Mile, Distaff, Turf and Classic.

References

{{Thoroughbred Racing on NBC

Breeders' Cup Breeders' Cup, 2018