Breeders' Cup Challenge series will mirror last year's

The Breeders’ Cup Challenge series will continue to be structured partially along regional lines for the second year in a row, the organization said on Wednesday when announcing the schedule for the series, which awards winners with automatic, fees-paid berths in the event’s races.

Last year, Breeders’ Cup separated the U.S. portion of the series into four regions to encourage competition among horses on regional circuits. Under the format, which will be continued this year, 10 of the 14 races for the Breeders’ Cup year-end event will have a single qualifying race in each of the regions.

In total this year, there will be 80 races awarding the automatic berths, held in 11 countries, with 39 of the races being held outside the U.S. Last year, there were 82 races, with 41 races being held outside the U.S.

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All races in the Challenge series held in North America are now required to be graded races, Breeders’ Cup said.

The Classic division will have eight Challenge races: The February Stakes at Tokyo Racecourse, which has already been run; the Stephen Foster Stakes at Churchill Downs on July 1; the Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park on July 22; the Whitney Handicap at Saratoga Racecourse on Aug. 5; the Juddmonte International Stakes at York on Aug. 23; the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Saratoga on Sept. 2; the Pacific Classic Stakes at Del Mar on Sept. 2; and the Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita Park on Sept. 30.

A complete list of the Challenge series races can be found here.

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