Breeders' Cup Classic purse raised to $7 million

The Breeders’ Cup Classic and the Breeders’ Cup Turf, the two richest races run in North America, will each receive $1 million purse boosts in 2024, Breeders’ Cup announced Tuesday.

The Classic will be run this year with a $7 million purse, while the Turf’s purse will be boosted to $5 million. The Classic has been contested at 1 1/4 miles since the inception of the Breeders’ Cup, while the Turf has been run at 1 1/2 miles.

“These purse increases reflect a key mission of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships: to attract the best-of-the-best from around the world to compete in a spectacular international showcase,” Drew Fleming, chief executive of Breeders’ Cup, said in a press release.

Few races around the world offer higher purses than the Classic or Turf. The Saudi Cup, a dirt race first run in 2020, is the richest race in the world, with a purse of $20 million. The Dubai World Cup, inaugurated in 1996 and also run on dirt, has a purse of $12 million. The Japan Cup, an invitational race run on the turf, has a purse of approximately $7.4 million.

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The Melbourne Cup, a turf handicap held in Australia, has a purse of approximately $5.5 million, and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in France, run on turf, has a purse of approximately $5.4 million.

The Everest, a turf sprint held at Royal Randwick in Australia, has a purse of approximately $13 million, but each of 12 entrants is required to pay an entry fee of $462,000. (All purses and entry fees are converted to current U.S. dollars, where necessary.)

The Breeders’ Cup Classic started out as a $3 million race in 1984. Its purse was bumped to $4 million in 1996, and then increased to $5 million for the 2005 running. In 2016 the purse was raised to $6 million.

The Turf had a $2 million purse from 1984 to 2005, after which the purse was raised to $3 million. The purse was increased to $4 million in 2016.

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The purse increases, which were approved by the Breeders’ Cup’s board of directors at a recent meeting, come at a time when purses for several other major U.S. stakes races have also been targeted for increases, including all three Triple Crown races.

This year, Churchill Downs bumped the purse of the Kentucky Derby to $5 million, up from $3 million last year, while also increasing the purses of other spring meet stakes by a total of $3.1 million. 1/ST Racing, the owner of Pimlico, announced a $500,000 increase to the purse of the Preakness Stakes in early March, and the race will now be worth $2 million. The New York Racing Association, the operator of Belmont Park, also increased the purse of the Belmont Stakes $500,000, to $2 million.

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