Breeders’ Cup: Then and Now

Keeneland hosted the 37th Breeders' Cup in November of 2020!
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Authentic wins the Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland by 2.25 lengths!
Authentic wins the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland by 2.25 lengths!

What a difference a week makes! After looking forward to Breeders’ Cup for so long the two day event raced by in a flash. Each of the 14 BC races were spectacular. Let’s look at the winners and what their post championship life looks like today.

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What’s Up With This Breeders’ Cup?

Keeneland welcomes the 37th Breeders' Cup!
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Keeneland has gone purple to host the 37th running of the Breeders' Cup!
Keeneland has gone purple to host the 37th running of the Breeders’ Cup!

What’s up with this Breeders’ Cup? In three words, World Championship racing! The relentless COVID-19 pandemic has imposed many changes in every aspect of life and racing was not spared. Fortunately, thoroughbred horse racing has stayed the course, though augmented. Most tracks were able to offer live racing at some point during the calendar year and we eventually experienced the thrill of each of the Triple Crown Races! Now, as we have done every year since 1984, it is time to witness and honor the best thoroughbred race horses in North America and the world as a whole!

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Count on Keeneland for Stars and Stakes

Keeneland At Home keeps the spectators away from Keeneland's Fall Meet.
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Fall Stars Weekend kicks off Keeneland's Fall Meet!
Fall Stars Weekend kicks off Keeneland’s Fall Meet!

Keeneland kicked off its Fall Meet with Fall Stars Weekend. Live racing at Keeneland from October 2nd through 24th foreshadows the Breeders’ Cup set for November 6th and 7th at this very same racecource. This meet features 18 stakes races, 10 of which are “Win and You’re In” races for an automatic berth into the Breeders’ Cup! Check out what this Fall at Keeneland has to offer.

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An Unconventionally COVID Preakness

Pimlico will host the 145th Preakness!
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The 145th Preakness Stakes will post Saturday, 10/3/2020!

Alas, the 145th Preakness Stakes is finally set to post this Saturday! The conventional second jewel but COVIDentional third jewel of the Triple Crown series will be raced at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland on October 3rd. While there won’t be a sweep this year, there is a sizeable field of talented thoroughbreds entered for this classic stakes race. Keeping with the unique differences the pandemic has created, one horse will not only carry the prestige of being the Preakness Stakes winner but for the first time ever, this winner will be granted an automatic berth into the $6 million dollar, Grade 1, Breeders’ Cup Longines Classic. Let’s keep learning about all of the unconventional awesomeness of this year’s Preakness!

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Details for the Derby

The twin spires of Churchill Downs will watch over the 146th Kentucky Derby while the spectators will not be on site.
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The twin spires of Churchill Downs will watch over the 146th Kentucky Derby while the spectators will not be on site.
The twin spires of Churchill Downs will watch over the 146th Kentucky Derby while the spectators will not be on site.

Delayed but not dismissed, the Derby is on at the Downs! The 146th Kentucky Derby field developed over a long and altered road but on Saturday, September 5, 2020, Churchill Downs will deliver “The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports”! Read on for the most important details for the Derby.

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Points from the Pegasus: Last Kentucky Derby Prep

The 2020 Pegasus Stakes serves as the final race on the Road to the Kentucky Derby
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The 2020 Pegasus Stakes serves as the final race on the Road to the Kentucky Derby
The 2020 Pegasus Stakes serves as the final race on the Road to the Kentucky Derby!

The elongated and altered Road to the Kentucky Derby is finally coming to an end. When Churchill Downs hosted the first KY Derby prep race, the Iroquois Stakes, in September 2019 we had a firm series of races to lead us to the first Saturday in May. Nearly a year has passed and the KY Derby, delayed by a global pandemic, will race this September. There is a nice long list of potential contenders and one more race to try to qualify for the Kentucky Derby. The Pegasus Stakes offers just enough KY Derby points to make entry into the great race possible. Four of eight contenders in today’s Pegasus Stakes are in the top 25 of the leaderboard. Read on to see who might climb up to squeeze into to the top 20, to Run for the Roses.

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Tiz the Travers

2020 Travers Stakes at Saratoga!
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Saratoga presents the 2020 Runhappy Travers Stakes.

Tiz the season to be racing! It is Travers Eve and all of the good little racing fans are receiving an early Mid-Summer Derby. The 151st edition of the Runhappy Travers Stakes is indeed the gift that will keep on giving. This Grade I Classic traditionally serves as the highlight of the Thoroughbred racing season for 3 year-old champions. That is still true but this year is so much more mysterious. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, everything is different in 2020. Horse racing has done a marvelous job withstanding a current cancellation culture. Despite alterations to the typical racing schedule, the win, place and show must go on. Tiz the Travers and the presents are the Man o’ War Cup and a post position in the Kentucky Derby!

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Battle of the Blue Grass – The Thoroughbred Edition

Keeneland's Summer Meet will continue spectator free for the Blue Grass Stakes.
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I do admire the beauty of Admire, winner of Keneland's 7th race on opening day of The Summer Meet.
I do admire the beauty of Admire, winner of Keeneland’s 7th race on opening day of The Summer Meet.

In Kentucky, The Bluegrass State, the Battle of the Bluegrass is a title that is used to describe many competitive activities and sport events. This weekend, in The Horse Capitol of the World, The Battle of the Blue Grass is reserved for an important graded stakes race on The Road to the Kentucky Derby. The long overdue, 96th edition of the Blue Grass Stakes will race this Saturday!

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Summer Stakes from the Safety of Home: Keeneland’s First Summer Meet

The Summer Meet at Keeneland: 2020 print by Kayla W. Nord
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Off to the Races is now Home for the Races for Keeneland's first Summer Meet
Off to the Races is now Home for the Races for Keeneland’s first Summer Meet.

It has been way too long since I last saw Keeneland or a live Thoroughbred horse race. As the COVID-19 pandemic swept the world, Keeneland shuttered their grounds to visitors and cancelled their epic Spring Meet. In a splendid effort to keep fine racing alive Keeneland was able to put together their first ever Summer Meet. To continue to take the highest precautions for safety, the races are spectator free. Fortunately, with careful planning, we can now enjoy Keeneland’s Summer Meet, #KeenelandatHome!

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Test Of The Champion To Tip Off The Triple Crown

Seattle Slew's Belmont Stakes Tray, 1977 Triple Crown winner
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Affirmed's Blemont Stakes Plate, 1978 Triple Crown Winner
Affirmed’s Belmont Stakes Tray, 1978 Triple Crown Winner.

In a year rife with changed and cancelled plans it has been a comfort to me that Thoroughbred horse racing has managed to continue, though in an altered manner . Looking for the silver lining in life, it brings me pleasure to remember these silver platters, the Belmont Stakes Trays. The winner Of the Belmont Stakes receives the August Belmont Trophy for a year but the trays that they receive, depicting the name of every winning Belmont Stakes horse, is theirs to keep forever. May racing go on forever too! In the spirit of that optimism, 2020 will feature all three legs of the Triple Crown. In the “New Normal” these races are quite a bit different. For the first time in the history of Thoroughbred racing, the Belmont Stakes inaugurated in 1867 will tip off the Triple Crown.

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