To some, the professional horseracing landscape may appear to be a showdown between the European horse trainers and jockeys and their North American counterparts. Year after year, the European horse trainers and jockeys have presented some of the best colts and Thoroughbreds to take on the American breeds. The attitude of intense competition has helped the sport itself as performance has reached new heights every year. It would be evident from the fact only one bay colored horse Da Hoss could win the Breeders Cup mile twice. The best international horses across the globe take part in the prestigious end of the year event that also marks the end of the horseracing season in America.
Breeders’ Cup Juvenile
Of the 13 races listed in the Breeders’ Cup World Championship, more than a quarter, four races to be precise, belong to the Juvenile category. There are the Juvenile Turf race and Juvenile Fillies race that cover a mile, and there are Juvenile and Juvenile Fillies races that comprise 11/16 miles. Oscar Performance was the winner of Breeders Cup Juvenile 2016 when it beat Lancaster Bomber by 11/4 length, and it was the inaugural race that marked the beginning of the event in 2016. Oscar Performance took 1 minute 33 seconds and 28 milliseconds (1:33:28) to complete the race to hand over the first Breeders’ Cup victory to the trainer Brian Lynch and jockey Jose Oritz.
An important date in the racing calendar
The first weekend of November has now become a permanent feature in the North American horseracing calendar. The weekend slot is marked for the Breeders’ Cup, the most prestigious racing event on the American soil. The competition is what Thoroughbred racing enthusiasts look forward to every year, and with their support and encouragement, the event has now completed 34 years.
Focus on juveniles
There is a lot of focus on the juveniles in horse racing which is the reason why the two-year-old horses take part in not less than four primary races of the two-day event. The focus on young horses seems quite logical as the young horses could hold enough promise of finding the future champions from among them. The most prominent event is also an excellent learning opportunity for the youngsters.
Since the inception of the event in 1984, there have been 301 champions until 2016, and the share of young winners is quite impressive. If there is one event in horseracing across the world that holds the center stage, it is undoubtedly the Breeders’ Cup. It was a single day event from the beginning in 1984 until it became the two-day event from 2007. It was also the time from when the gains began to grow bigger.
Santa Anita racetrack in California has the rare distinction of hosting the event nine times despite the fact that there is considerable competition among the major racing track venues in North America to hold the event. In 2017, it is the turn of Del Mar in San Diego hosting it for the first time.
