The Whitney Stakes, the Pacific Classic Stakes, and England’s Juddmonte International will again offer each of the winners an all-expenses-paid spot in the field of the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic this year, the Breeders’ Cup announced on Wednesday.

The three Grade 1 races offering berths in the Classic are among the 16 races that are scheduled to be held in August that Breeders’ Cup has designated as part of its “Challenge Series.” Races in the challenge series award the winners with a free spot in the field of one of the 14 Breeders’ Cup races, along with travel stipends.

In 2019, the mare Lys Gracieux won the Grade 1 Takarazuka Kinen in a season she was named Japan’s Horse of the Year.

Sunday, the 4-year-old filly Chrono Genesis won the second Grade 1 race of her career in the $2.71 million Takarazuka Kinen at 1 3/8 miles on turf at Hanshin Racecourse.

In a way, Chrono Genesis was better than Lys Gracieux. Last year, Lys Gracieux won by three lengths. Chrono Genesis won by a record six lengths in the final Grade 1 race of the Japanese spring-summer calendar.

A horse that wins the Haskell, the Kentucky Derby, and the Breeders’ Cup Classic this year will be awarded a $1 million bonus by Monmouth Park, the host track of the Haskell, Monmouth announced Thursday.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - The Breeders’ Cup Sprint remains the endgame for Whitmore, who emerged from his record third Count Fleet Sprint Handicap win in good order and has resumed training at Oaklawn Park.

“He’s happy,” said co-owner and trainer Ron Moquett. “We’re training him lightly. We’re not training him toward anything. Just keeping him happy.”

Moquett said pinning down plans is difficult right now due to the coronavirus pandemic that has disrupted the racing schedule in North America.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Breeders’ Cup Classic will have a purse of $7 million this year, up from $6 million, and the Breeders’ Cup Turf will offer a purse of $6 million, up from $4 million, the organization announced on Tuesday.

The purse increases, which were approved by the Breeders’ Cup board during a meeting on Feb. 25, are part of a steady run-up in top-level purses around the horse racing world. Last week, the inaugural Saudi Cup was held, offering a purse of $20 million, the richest in the world, and later this month, the Dubai World Cup will offer a $12 million total prize.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Got Stormy, runner-up in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita earlier this month, will make another trip west, this time for the Grade 1, $300,000 Matriarch Stakes on Dec. 1, closing-day of Del Mar’s fall meeting, trainer Mark Casse informed Thursday.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Woodbine Mile winner El Tormenta will get the rest of the season off following his sixth-place finish in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita on Nov. 2, trainer Gail Cox said.

Cox said El Tormenta would spend the next five to six weeks at owner-breeder Sam-Son Farm’s Ocala, Fla., farm before joining her at Payson Park Training Center to resume training for a 5-year-old campaign.

“He’s doing great,” Cox said. “He actually shipped right to Florida.”

Brad Anderson of Sarasota, Fla., turned an all-in wager on Vino Rosso into a nearly $500,000 victory in the 11th Breeders' Cup Betting Challenge, a live-money tournament held in conjunction with the Breeders' Cup, Nov. 1-2.

Anderson was best in a field of a record 457 entries, each of which cost $10,000. From each $10,000 entry, $2,500 went into the prize pool and $7,500 was used as a live bankroll.

All drug tests performed on horses in this year's Breeders' Cup have been cleared, the California Horse Racing Board announced.

According to a press release issued late Tuesday night, all horses who competed in the Breeders' Cup races last Friday and Saturday at Santa Anita were given pre-race tests for TCO2, which is used to flag horses who may have been milkshaked. Post-race tests -- using blood and urine -- for prohibited drugs were conducted on the first four finishers in every Breeders' Cup race, as well as additional random horses selected by stewards, the release said.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Covfefe is being turned out for the balance of the year and will return to training in early 2020 with a repeat in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Keeneland being the primary goal, trainer Brad Cox said Wednesday at Churchill Downs.

Covfefe will get “maybe a couple of months” at the McKathan Brothers training center in Ocala, Fla., said Cox. The 3-year-old Into Mischief filly won the BC Filly and Mare Sprint at Santa Anita last Saturday, clinching a divisional Eclipse Award.