BC hears Monmouth pitch

Representatives of Breeders' Cup Ltd. visited Monmouth Park on Thursday to hear a proposal from track officials about holding the Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships there in 2007.

Bruce Garland, an executive vice president of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, the owner of Monmouth, said Friday that the presentation was the second that Monmouth officials have made in an attempt to land the Cup.

"We've done everything we can at this point," Garland said. "We wanted to make it clear that we're confident that we would do a good job with it."

Monmouth Park is in Oceanport on the New Jersey shore, a two-hour drive from New York City. The track, with permanent seating for 18,000 people, is much smaller than a typical Breeders' Cup host site.

This year's Breeders' Cup will be at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas - a small track like Monmouth. Lone Star officials are adding thousands of temporary seats to accommodate the event.

Breeders' Cup has yet to name the site for its 2006 event, but the host track is expected to be Churchill Downs, which will have completed a $121 million renovation by then. Breeders' Cup officials have not indicated when a 2007 site will be named.