All 57 races in the series of stakes guaranteeing the winner a berth in one of the 14 Breeders' Cup races will be televised this year on ABC, ESPN, Television Games Network, or HorseRacing TV, the Breeders' Cup said Tuesday.
Twenty of the 57 races will be broadcast live on ABC, ESPN, or ESPN2, which will also broadcast the Breeders' Cup event on Oct. 24-25 at Santa Anita Park. The broadcasts begin July 5 from Monmouth Park, with the Salvator Mile and the United Nations.
Dos Equis, the Mexican beer distributed in the United states by Heineken USA, has reached an agreement to become the "official beer" of the 2008 Breeders' Cup World Championships, scheduled this year for Oct. 24-25 at Santa Anita Park, Breeders' Cup Ltd. announced on Tuesday.
As part of the agreement, Dos Equis will have exclusive on-site marketing rights at Santa Anita. The company will create an entertainment program for the infield at the track during the Breeders' Cup, and will also run retail promotions in the Southern California market before the two-day event.
Emirates Airline has reached an agreement to continue its sponsorship of the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf and will also sponsor the Breeders' Cup Turf for the first time, Breeders' Cup and Emirates said on Monday.
Emirates Airline, which is based in Dubai, had previously sponsored the Filly and Mare Turf and the Distaff, but will take over sponsorship of the Turf this year from John Deere, the farm-equipment manufacturer that is a longtime sponsor of Breeders' Cup.
The first two and a half hours of live Breeders' Cup coverage on Saturday, Oct. 25, has been moved to ABC-TV from its sister network ESPN, officials of Breeders' Cup and the networks said on Monday.
ESPN initially had been scheduled to air six straight hours of live coverage from Santa Anita Park on Oct. 25, the second day of the two-day event. A broadcast window in the early afternoon opened up, however, and Breeders' Cup and ESPN elected to start the coverage on ABC, officials for Breeders' Cup and ESPN said.
