“Win and You're In”

The 2021 Breeders' Cup Challenge Series schedule will consist of 84 automatic qualifying stakes races into the Breeders' Cup World Championships, it was announced Tuesday. This year's series, which includes a record nine "Win and You're In" races for the $6-million GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic division, will take place in 10 countries.  The complete 2021 schedule can be viewed here. Horses from around the globe will be qualifying through the Challenge Series for the 38th Breeders' Cup World Championships, which is scheduled to be held at Del Mar racetrack...

The opening day of Santa Anita's Autumn season will be pushed back a week until Friday, Sept. 25 due to the impact of the Bobcat Fire on the air quality and surrounding community. "Our local community has been deeply impacted by the Bobcat Fire burning for more than a week in the mountains behind us," said Aidan Butler, Executive Director of California Operations for The Stronach Group. "The current weather pattern has kept the smoke in the valley and the air quality is quite poor right now. The Red Cross...

Whether you love him or have mixed feelings about him, there is one thing about Maximum Security (New Year's Day) that is very hard to dispute: he is an outstanding racehorse. Prohibitively favored at 40 cents on the dollar to take Saturday's GI TVG Pacific Classic in his second start since being transferred to the barn of Bob Baffert, the bay absorbed race-long pressure but, realistically speaking, never looked like losing in securing an all-expenses-paid berth in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic in early November. When the dust had settled,...

Collusion Illusion (Twirling Candy) got the better of his elders and earned a spot in the gate for the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint, holding off a late rally from Lexitonian (Speightstown) to take Del Mar's GI Bing Crosby S. Settling near the back of the pack, the 9-5 chalk ran off the fence with only Lexitonian, who trailed the field by several lengths, beat as the remaining five scrambled for control through a sharp first quarter in :21.58. Wildman Jack (Goldencents) gained a very narrow advantage as the half went...

Headlined by three automatic qualifiers for the $7-million GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic and three "Win and You're In" starting positions at York's Ebor Festival in Britain, the Breeders' Cup announced its August schedule of Breeders' Cup Challenge Series races Wednesday. There will be 16 Breeders' Cup Challenge races in August, beginning Aug. 1 with two races at Saratoga Race Course and one at Del Mar. Saratoga will host the GI Whitney S., which will give the winner an automatic berth into Classic, as well as the GI Personal Ensign...

G M B Racing's Tom's d'Etat (Smart Strike) breezed six furlongs in a strong 1:12.80 Saturday morning at Churchill Downs as he continues his preparations for the GII Stephen Foster S. June 27. "The most incredible thing about his work this morning was it hardly looked like he even did anything but he just cruised out there," trainer Al Stall, Jr. told the Churchill notes team. "Now, he's back in his stall and doesn't even seemed like any of it phased him one bit." The 7-year-old entire, third to Seeking...

The Breeders' Cup has announced its June and July schedule of races for the 2020 Breeders' Cup Challenge Series, with highlights that include a pair of automatic qualifiers for the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic and four berths on offer at the Royal Ascot meeting. The Breeders' Cup Challenge Series, now in its 14th year, is an international series of stakes races whose winners receive automatic starting spots and fees paid into a corresponding race in the Breeders' Cup World Championships, which will be held this year on Nov. 6-7...

Japanese Horse of the Year Almond Eye (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) made it seven Group 1 wins, after a tour-de-force in Sunday's G1 Victoria Mile at Tokyo. Now a "Win and You're In" for the GI Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf, the Victoria Mile was the second time the bay has won at the top level going 1600 metres since her win in the 2018 G1 Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas). It was four lengths back to Sound Chiara (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), who was a neck...