Keeneland, Breeders' Cup make logo deal

Breeders’ Cup Inc. and Keeneland, the Kentucky racetrack and sales company, have reached a multiyear sponsorship agreement that will provide Keeneland with the ability to display its logo during television broadcasts of prep races and the 14 Breeders’ Cup races that are part of the year-end event, the two companies announced Thursday.

Under the agreement, the Keeneland logo will be displayed as a graphic during post parades next to horses who were sold at one of the company’s sales in broadcasts of six prep races to the year-end event, which is scheduled for Nov. 5-6 at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. During the broadcast of the November event, the logo will be displayed next to each horse during the post parades in “a minimum” of 12 of the 14 races, according to a Keeneland spokeswoman, Julie Balog, and the logo will also be displayed next to horses sold at the company’s sales during broadcasts of the undercard races.

On Wednesday, Breeders’ Cup said that reserved ticket sales for the event this year have reached $7.2 million in revenue, twice the amount of ticket sales at this point last year for the two-day event at Santa Anita Park in Southern California. Officials for the Breeders’ Cup said that strong local interest in Louisville accounted for the higher ticket sales, along with greater capacity for reserved seating at Churchill when compared with Santa Anita.