LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Breeders’ Cup board of directors is once again set to discuss the possibility of splitting its event between dates in November and December, according to racing officials with knowledge of the organization’s plans. The discussion will take place at a board meeting in Lexington on Thursday, approximately seven weeks after the board tabled several proposals that would have similarly bifurcated the event. This time, however, the proposal being supported by several prominent directors would move four races, including the Classic and the two dirt races for juveniles, to a card in December, perhaps four or five weeks after another 11 Breeders’ Cup races are held on the first Saturday in November, according to the officials. Breeders’ Cup officials this week would not confirm the organization’s agenda for the board meeting and would not comment on any proposals that could be discussed, an indication of the sensitivity of the proposal. While some directors are attempting to consolidate support among directors for the proposal, other directors and members of the Breeders’ Cup staff are set against any plan to bifurcate the event but fear antagonizing or alienating the supportive directors, which include Bobby Flay, the celebrity chef. Through an intermediary, Flay declined last week to comment on the Thursday board meeting. Under a plan floated three weeks ago by the organization’s Innovation Committee, the Breeders’ Cup would add a $3 million race restricted to 3-year-old horses to a slate of 10 races to be held on the first Saturday of November. The Classic, Juvenile, Juvenile Fillies, and Sprint would then be moved to a date in December, with the races and an undercard held at Gulfstream Park in South Florida, the lone major racetrack that has dates at that time. Supporters of the plan believe that the Breeders’ Cup would benefit by holding a race restricted to 3-year-olds as a prep race for a rescheduled Classic, citing the popularity of the Triple Crown races. Supporters also believe that television ratings and media coverage of the event suffer from the November date, when the Saturday television lineup is dominated by college football broadcasts. Opponents of the plan are concerned that splitting the event into separate dates at separate racetracks would be greeted with intense criticism from racing fans, many of whom already spend thousands of dollars to travel to a Breeders’ Cup at a single site. In addition, the opponents are skeptical that the event’s television ratings are impacted to any significant degree by college football broadcasts. The Breeders’ Cup drafted a survey to gauge constituents’ views on the proposal, but the survey was never sent out to large numbers of people, according to officials. Daily Racing Form obtained a copy of the survey. The Breeders’ Cup had tabled a proposal to move the Classic to the December date at a board meeting in January. At that meeting, the directors approved the addition of a $1 million race, the Juvenile Turf Sprint, and a $500,000 increase to the purse of the Sprint, from $1.5 million to $2 million. A significant portion of the Breeders’ Cup budget comes from fees raised from breeders, and the organization’s board includes a large contingent of representatives of the central Kentucky breeding industry, which has grown increasingly concerned about the future of the racing industry due to large declines in the foal crop (the declines have leveled off in recent years). That contingent also believes that handle and television ratings for the Breeders’ Cup event should be growing at much higher rates, and it is willing to embrace radical proposals to test their beliefs. One Breeders’ Cup director, Craig Bernick, would not discuss any specific proposals set to come before the board Thursday but said the board has a “duty” to discuss proposals that could possibly benefit the event and the sport at large. Bernick is the president and chief operating officer of Glen Hill Farm and a managing partner in a bloodstock company. “Breeders’ Cup has done well as far as a big event. In some ways, it is even bucking the larger trends of the industry,” Bernick said on Tuesday. “At the same time, the horse business as a whole is not necessarily that way. We’re not just Breeders’ Cup board members, we’re owners and breeders, and we have to act as stewards of the sport.”