Breeders' Cup World Championships is an annual series of Grade I Thoroughbred horse races, operated by Breeders' Cup Limited, a company formed in 1982.
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10 Facts About Breeders' Cup
2.
Attendance at the Breeders' Cup varies, depending mainly on the capacity of the host track.
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3.
The idea for the Breeders' Cup was proposed at the 1982 awards luncheon for the Kentucky Derby Festival by pet food heir John R Gaines, a leading Thoroughbred owner and breeder who wanted to clean up the sport's image.
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4.
The Cup was initially faced with much skepticism in the racing community, however with the vocal support of legendary trainer John Nerud and others, the Breeders' Cup was carried out, and subsequently experienced tremendous popularity domestically and abroad.
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5.
From 2008 to 2014, the Breeders' Cup was held at either Churchill Downs or Santa Anita Park, both major tracks with a demonstrated record of success in hosting the event.
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6.
Breeders' Cup Limited has adopted a field selection system to select runners in the event fields are oversubscribed.
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7.
Rosie Napravnik became the second woman jockey to win a Breeders' Cup race, winning the Juvenile in 2012 on Shanghai Bobby and the Distaff in 2014 on Untapable.
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8.
However, in January 2012 the Breeders' Cup announced a new contract with NBC Sports, superseding the final two years of the ESPN contract.
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9.
Breeders' Cup races were called by Tom Durkin from 1984 through 2005, and by Trevor Denman from 2006 to 2012.
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10.
The Breeders' Cup has used two announcers in recent years, with Larry Collmus calling the races for the network shows, and the host track's announcer calling for the regular in-house and simulcast feeds.
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