Breeders' Cup Classic booted from anchor spot on card by college football
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For the first time in its 40-year history, the Breeders’ Cup Classic will not be the final race of the prestigious event.
Instead, the Classic this year will be run as the third-to-last Breeders’ Cup race, with a post time of 6:40 p.m. Eastern time, or 3:40 p.m. locally at the site of the event, Santa Anita Park in Southern California, Breeders’ Cup said on Wednesday. The Classic will then be followed by the Turf Sprint and the Sprint. The 12-race card will conclude with a non-Breeders’ Cup race with a post time of 8:32 p.m. Eastern.
Breeders’ Cup noted the change in a release announcing its broadcast schedule. Under that schedule, NBC will broadcast on Saturday from 3:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Eastern, at which time NBC will switch to Big Ten college football coverage.
Last year, along with CBS and Fox, NBC signed a seven-year broadcast deal with the Big Ten worth a total of $7 billion. Under the deal, NBC was given the rights to the prime-time window of Big Ten games in the fall through the end of the 2029-30 football season. The network has already branded and promoted its part of the deal as “Big Ten Saturday Night.”
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NBC and Breeders’ Cup are partners on the live broadcast of the Breeders’ Cup, with the two organizations splitting costs and revenues. That’s in contrast to a straight rights buy, in which a network purchases the broadcast rights to an event and retains all related broadcasting revenue.
In a prepared response to questions, Breeders’ Cup said that it “worked closely [with NBC] to reschedule the broadcast windows for the World Championships to provide maximum coverage and exposure for the event,” noting that on seven previous occasions when the Breeders’ Cup was held on the West Coast, only one race, the Classic, was on the main NBC broadcast network.
“The new 3.5-hour network window will showcase five BC races, instead of just one in prime time, and extend into the higher rated 6-7 pm ET news hour on NBC,” the statement said.
Traditionally, the Classic is the anchor for a number of extremely popular multi-leg bets. With nine races still on the Saturday card and the Classic slotted seventh in that line-up, the Classic could still be placed as the last leg in a pick six bet that also only includes other Breeders’ Cup races.
Breeders’ Cup will announce the wagering menu and the full line-up of the remaining Breeders’ Cup races on Oct. 25, two days after entries are taken. The two-day event is scheduled for Nov. 3-4.
“We will continue to offer a robust wagering menu and are confident that the quality of racing offered throughout all Breeders’ Cup races will produce strong wagering results,” Breeders’ Cup said in its statement.
In the broadcast schedule release, Breeders’ Cup said that first post on the Saturday card will be 1:10 p.m. Eastern, or 10:10 a.m. local time. The last time the Breeders’ Cup was at Santa Anita, the first Saturday post was also 10:10 a.m., but the Classic, which was the last race of the day, went off at 5:45 p.m. locally, or 8:45 p.m. Eastern.
At $6 million, the Classic is the richest race of the two-day Breeders’ Cup event. It annually attracts the best dirt horses in the U.S., along with several top-class foreign horses.
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