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By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Edited Press Release Thursday, Oct. 15 at 11:59pm ET is the final deadline to nominate foals born in 2026 to the Breeders' Cup program at the one-time nomination fee of $400 USD, the organization announced Monday. The $400 weanling nomination entitles each foal with lifetime eligibility to the Breeders' Cup World Championships and the Breeders' Cup racing programs. All foals sired by a fully nominated North American Breeders' Cup stallion are eligible for nomination to the Breeders' Cup program in their year of birth at the weanling rate. From Oct. 16, 2026 to Feb. 28, 2027, the nomination cost rises to $1,500. Breeders' Cup foal nominators will earn $10,000 for every victory in the worldwide Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In, and every horse that starts in a Breeders' Cup World Championship race will earn a nominator award. The individual nominating the foal receives these nominator awards even though the horse may change hands throughout its racing career. To nominate online, and for more information, please visit the members portal. The post Breeders’ Cup Foal Nominations Close Oct. 15 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
The Thoroughbred nicknamed Ryan, who was profiled in TDN six months ago as the first participant in the Empty Stall Challenge run by the HISA Equine Recovery Foundation (HERF), has recovered well enough from slab fracture surgery to be back in training under saddle. He's currently up for adoption at New Vocations in Lexington, Kentucky, where his caretakers believe the 3-year-old gelding will be a promising lower-level equine sport competitor in his second career. Ryan's progress–after sustaining a type of knee fracture during training at Thistledown that can commonly lead to euthanization–was made possible by many helping hands over the past half-year. It all started with HERF, which is a one full-time employee, nonprofit operation launched in early 2026 by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA). HERF provides critical assistance for Thoroughbreds who sustain injuries that are career-ending but have a positive recovery prognosis by ensuring immediate access to either free or discounted quality veterinary treatment. HERF then places recovering horses with caretakers for the rehab phase via initiatives like the Empty Stall Challenge, which matches equine patients with farms willing to donate stabling, boarding, and the assistance of qualified staffers experienced in providing months of stall rest. In Ryan's case, he was hosted by Denali Stud. The 16.1-hands, long-legged bay was vanned there free of charge by Brook Ledge Horse Transportation after Dr. Alex Curtiss performed his no-cost surgery at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital. After nearly four months at Denali, the gelding is now at New Vocations, the nation's largest rehabilitation and placement program for retired racehorses. Claire Bandoroff, Denali's marketing and hospitality director, vividly recalled the day Ryan stepped off the van. “He got off the trailer and I remember just thinking, like, 'Welcome! Nice to meet you. You're safe here. I think you're gonna like it,'” Bandoroff said. “When he arrived at the farm Apr. 23, he was fresh off of his surgery for his slab fracture,” Bandoroff said. “His plan was 30 days of stall rest, 30 days of hand-walking, and then progressing to round pen turnout, and then from there progressing to paddock turnout. And he did it all just exactly according to the book. He had no setbacks here. Donnie Snellings, our yearling manager, kind of oversaw his program. “I think anyone who's been around him could probably say the same thing: He just has the best demeanor. He's so sweet, very gentle, playful. He's very smart, and really smart about handling himself. I think that's why he did so well in his rehab, because he really just took care of himself, and I think all smart horses do that,” Bandoroff said. Anna Ford, the executive director of New Vocations, picked up Ryan's story from there. “He came to us Aug. 13. We had him settle in and get re-evaluated by our vets to be sure that he could go on to training. He got cleared Aug. 28 and they started riding him Sept. 21, and he's doing well, so we're going to keep riding him,” Ford said. “Everything looks like it's healed well. Time will tell if there are going to be any further changes to that joint. Mid-level impact would be my guess [for near-future activity level]. He's just started doing stuff, so it's hard to know right now what they're going to clear him to do long-term,” Ford said. “He seems pretty straightforward and laid back. I know his first ride was pretty uneventful, so that's always good. He seems like he has a good mind, because I think he's going to end up being more suitable for like a lower-level career, and those types of [adoptive owners] tend to need a horse that's a little bit more laid back and secure with themselves,” Ford said. 'Just scratching the surface' HERF is just in its infancy and is still fine-tuning some of its procedures and protocols. But one thing is becoming clear to those who either run the program or have participated in it as volunteers: If it flourishes and expands, it is poised to have a meaningful effect on reducing the Thoroughbred fatality rate from catastrophic injuries, simply because it is going to save, rehab and adopt out horses whose fates might otherwise have been decided by adverse economic factors. Joe DeFrancis, who was previously the majority owner and chief executive of the Maryland Jockey Club, now chairs the HERF board. He said the key to the initiative is that HERF provides options for lower-level owners and trainers on smaller racing circuits who want to do the right thing for their horses but simply cannot afford to. “These are marginal players in the sport, most of them, and they're faced with really difficult economic decisions,” DeFrancis said. “They're struggling to get by and they don't have the money to pay the medical bills at retail that it would take to provide a surgery, provide the aftercare from the surgery, and rehabilitate a horse that, by and large, is going to have no further economic value to them. And people shouldn't be criticized for that, or made to feel in any way uncomfortable, or at fault. “Think of HERF as a pipeline,” DeFrancis said. “So from the moment that the horse gets injured and the owner basically says, 'I can't really deal with this injury,' HERF steps in and takes ownership and complete responsibility for the health, safety, well-being, and treatment of the horse.” HERF will have a $1.4 million budget for fiscal year 2027 to build upon its first year of operations. “We are funded solely by donations, and so we are solely dependent upon the charitable goodwill of individuals and organizations that care about horses,” DeFrancis said. “One of the major economic pillars that supports our existence is 'in-kind' contributions from members of the industry. Whether that's people that have farms providing a stall to help a horse do that short-term rehabilitation middle phase, or whether it's equine hospitals like Rood & Riddle or New Bolton doing surgeries that are deeply discounted or completely gratis, or transport companies providing free vanning services, based upon our 2026 experience to date, in-kind contributions covered roughly one-third of our expenses, and we're hoping that continues on a go-forward basis into 2027,” DeFrancis said. “But the rest, roughly a million dollars of cash need, we're hoping to raise in contributions from individuals and organizations,” DeFrancis said. “That's our goal.” As part of the analysis for that budget, DeFrancis said HERF examined equine fatality data based on HISA's four most recently published quarterly reports. “There were a total of 177 racing fatalities over that period for the HISA racetracks that we had data for,” DeFrancis said. “That's not nationwide. There are a number of racetracks that are not in the HISA database, so we didn't have access to their data. But for racetracks that are in the HISA database, there were 177 racing fatalities. That translated into a fatality rate per thousand starts of 1.07. “And our chief veterinary liaison, Karen Hassan, looked at all of those 177 cases, and concluded that had HERF been in existence over those four quarters–we didn't begin doing business until Q2 of 2026–she estimates that we would have been able to save 37 of those horses, which was 21% of the total fatalities,” DeFrancis said. “That would have resulted in the fatalities per [thousand starts] number going down from 1.07 to 0.84. That's a 21% reduction, which is pretty significant,” DeFrancis said. “And that's just scratching the surface. We're just kind of getting going. We think in the fullness of time, when we're operational in every state, and hopefully HISA's constitutionality has been finally resolved by the United States Supreme Court, and all states that have pari-mutuel horse racing are under HISA jurisdiction, that we'll be able to get that number down even lower,” DeFrancis said. You'd think that would be a statistic HERF might be touting loudly. But DeFrancis emphasized he didn't want the HERF story to come across as being numbers-driven, because it detracts from the organization's mission. “I want to be crystal-clear about this: HERF doesn't exist to improve or polish or make better any particular statistic,” DeFrancis said. “It exists to fill a gap in the overall equine welfare infrastructure as it relates to taking care of horses at the middle and lower end of the sport. [So if] they suffer a catastrophic injury that causes them to have no further value as a racehorse, economics [don't dictate whether a horse gets] euthanized rather than receiving life-saving medical treatment. And that is the challenge and the problem that HERF was created to address. “But one of the byproducts of HERF is that in fulfilling our mission, it is addressing that challenge [of reducing equine fatalities]. We are, and we will, significantly improve that catastrophic breakdown statistic that everybody pays attention to,” DeFrancis said. The Bandoroffs with 'Ryan' at Denali Stud | Courtesy of Denali Stud 'Ryan' revealed Horses like Ryan have a chance at second careers, but HERF realizes not all of their intakes will. In cases where a horse is pain-free and pasture-sound but can't go back under saddle, it will be matched with a new owner who will see that the horse “lives out its life in peace and comfort in the field, basically,” DeFrancis said. Ford said at New Vocations, “We have five from HERF here in Lexington. The majority of them are all progressing well. We have one 'question mark' horse that might need more of a sanctuary home than an adopted home.” But, Ford added, “I definitely think it'll help with the fatality numbers. Most of the surgeries are pretty straightforward. We're getting horses with these types of surgeries fairly regularly, so it's great that they're able to provide the surgeries for the people who aren't able to do that.” Mandy Minger, who is HERF's executive director (and lone full-time employee), said that, “The Empty Stall Challenge is still ongoing, and we have more people who have donated stalls than we've had horses to put in them at this point, so that's the best part. We've had six horses go through the Empty Stall Challenge, and we have about six farms that are already on deck.” One of the policies that HERF has had to adjust since Ryan was profiled in TDN half a year ago has to do with the disclosure of registered names. Minger explained that initially, HERF chose not to disclose a horse's Jockey Club name for fear that owners who could not afford the surgery might feel shamed or subjected to stigmatization, and thus unwilling to give HERF horses. But now, DeFrancis said, HERF has realized that asking people to adopt rehabbed Thoroughbreds without telling them everything that is known about the horse simply isn't practical or transparent. Plus, Minger said, rehabbed Thoroughbreds that compete in various aftercare competitions have to be identified to enter. “These horses are going to be eligible for fabulous programs like the Retired Racehorse Project, and people are very interested in their racing careers,” Minger said. “So after consulting with many people in racing, [we realized] trying to keep the horse anonymous forever was a nonstarter. And obviously, they're all [micro] chipped, and it would take anybody a minute to figure out who they were. So for rehoming them publicly, they will be under their racing names,” Minger said. DeFrancis said he hopes that decision ends up being a reasonable compromise, noting that in most cases, the better part of a year will have passed after a horse comes into HERF and the disclosure of the name occurs. “When we take a horse into the program at the beginning of the pipeline, we give him a barn name. And then when he comes out of the pipeline and is adopted out to a permanent new home, he reverts back to his Jockey Club name,” DeFrancis said. “The reason behind the confidentiality is we want to really encourage participation in the program by horsemen, by owners and trainers. We don't want there to be any possible stigma attached to participating in the program or have any owner or trainer be subject to criticism. Because–and this is really important–the overwhelming majority of them are not doing anything wrong.” Bandoroff said that at Denali, “When we saw those videos of him entering early training at New Vocations, there was just not a dry eye. He looked so excited. His ears were pricked the whole time. “All of us are really looking forward to following him in his new career. Hopefully he'll have a successful career, and he's going to be a great horse for whoever ends up with him,” Bandoroff said. “Ryan just has that 'honest eye' about him,” Bandoroff said. “That's the window into a horse's soul. It's how you can tell if they're healthy or not. And I feel like whenever we would look at him, there was just this, like, thankfulness about it. “But I also think we can probably thank him as well,” Bandoroff said. “I think having him at the farm, he brought a lot of hope to everyone that worked with him.” To donate to HERF, click this link. The post HERF’s ‘Ryan’ Ready for Second Career; Program Could Contribute to Significant Reduction in Fatality Rate appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Two non-competition awards were presented to recipients and honorees by the Jockey Club Thoroughbred Incentive Program (T.I.P.), namely the Thoroughbred of the Year and Young Rider of the Year, for 2026, the group announced Monday. Fury, registered with The Jockey Club as Junglist, has been named the Thoroughbred of the Year. The 8-year-old gelding retired from the racetrack in 2021 before being responsibly retired to Turning For Home, who matched him with Special Equestrians. The equine team at Special Equestrians spent the next two years training and desensitizing Fury until he was ready to become an active therapy horse, serving both mounted and unmounted participants. “We're grateful that Fury was named The Jockey Club T.I.P. Thoroughbred of the Year,” said Janice Witt, executive director of Special Equestrians. “We're proud to include off-track Thoroughbreds in our therapeutic riding programming. Fury follows in the footsteps of Kat (Kat's Hope), who received the award in 2023 and is our top-performing therapy horse.” “The responsiveness of retired racehorses is especially valuable for the people that we serve, especially individuals with autism and mental health conditions. OTTBs have phenomenal focus and work ethic when given the care, time and attention they deserve, making them great candidates for healing work.” The Young Rider of the Year award, which recognizes riders 18 or younger who own or lease of Thoroughbred for 4-H, pony club, or other activities, has been awarded to Addyson Machese. Machese, who turns 16 in November, owns Feta, Mind Ya Bizness, registered name Russian Ekati (Tale of Ekati–Russian Bride), an unraced 5-year-old Thoroughbred bred in Ohio by Raimonde Farms LTD. Machese and Feta finished third in the Open Crossrails Division of the 2026 T.I.P. Championships, earning the Junior High Point Award for the division. The Jockey Club also chose three Honorees for the T.I.P. Young Rider of the Year award–Molly Gettings, Mia Martin, and Sophie Thom. The 2026 Thoroughbred of the Year Honoree award has been given to All That Jazz. Registered with The Jockey Club as Northern Jazz, the 18-year-old was bred in Pennsylvania by Jeffrey L. Haller. The post The Jockey Club Releases T.I.P. Non-Competition Winners, Honorees appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
The 16th running of Qatar Racing British Champions Day at Ascot this Saturday will once again bring together the very best horses from across Europe, with many of the season's stars confirmed on Monday. Eight of the horses currently in the top 20 of the Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings are confirmed in the shape of Ombudsman (Night Of Thunder), Almaqam (Lope De Vega), Bay City Roller (New Bay), Gstaad (Starspangledbanner), Scandinavia (Justify), Calandagan (Gleneagles), Constitution River (Wootton Bassett) and Kalpana (Study Of Man). The £1.3m G1 Qatar Racing Champion Stakes was officially the joint-best race in the world last year and will highlight a stellar card, with 11 confirmations headlined by the 1-2-3 from last year – Calandagan, Ombudsman and Almaqam – plus Bay City Roller, Constitution River, Gstaad and Hotazhell (Too Darn Hot). Between them they have won 11 Group 1s this season across five different countries. George Scott, trainer of Bay City Roller, said, “He's come out of the race in Paris [when second in the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe] really well. He's a very easy horse to get a read on and seems to thrive on his racing. Arguably his two career-best performances have come off the back of a two-week break, so he's bright and well and all set for the weekend. “He's been a model of consistency throughout his career, especially this year, and he's in fantastic shape. His optimum trip is probably a mile and a half, but ten furlongs is no concern. Ascot is a stiff ten furlongs and that wouldn't worry me at all. “If they all turn up, Ombudsman is the king around Ascot, Calandagan was the world's best horse last year and Almaqam won the Tattersalls Gold Cup. You've also got Gstaad stepping up in trip. It's a fantastic race to be part of and I'm really looking forward to it. It's about competing at the highest level against the top operations. Bay City Roller has trained so well since the Arc and it's very exciting to be going there with him.” Legendary Irish trainer Jessica Harrington is hoping to pull off a historic Champion Stakes double as Hotazhell bids to follow up his dramatic victory in the G1 Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown last month. “Hotazhell winning the Irish Champion Stakes was an amazing lift for everybody here in Commonstown,” said the trainer. “Winning a big race, a Group 1 race like that, which features all over the world, it's fantastic for the owners. The yard really gets an unbelievable kick out of it and everyone came in on the Monday morning with a large grin on their face. “He came out of the race really well and he lost very little weight. He's done a bit of work at the Curragh since and we were very happy with him. So, all systems go for Ascot. I'm hoping for the best, it's going to be a very competitive race. They're all very high-class horses but, if you're not in, you can't win. Knowing it's his last race, we really want him to do well, especially for his future owners.” Constitution River has also been supplemented for the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (Sponsored by Qatar Racing), with trainer Aidan O'Brien yet to confirm where he will run between the two races. Other confirmations for the £1.1m Queen Elizabeth II Stakes include the G1 Queen Anne Stakes winner Ten Bob Tony (Night Of Thunder), Irish Guineas winner Gstaad and Rayif (Sea The Moon), a dual Group 1 winner in France. Talk Of New York (Wootton Bassett) has also supplemented for Charlie Appleby, taking the total number of entries to 13. The first of five Group 1s on the day is the Qatar Racing British Champions Long Distance Cup, which could see Scandinavia and Caballo De Mar (Phoenix Of Spain) renew their rivalry as they head 12 confirmations. Scott plans to run Caballo De Mar after he got the better of Gold Cup winner Scandinavia in the G1 Prix du Cadran at ParisLongchamp, adding, “He's come out of Paris very well. He's given us all the right signs and we've been delighted with him. “The key with him is keeping him fresh and happy. We've changed the way we ride him and train him a little bit, and he's a horse that seems to be evolving all the time. “I won't lie, I was hoping to run into Jan Brueghel rather than Scandinavia again! We won the race fair and square in Paris, but Scandinavia is a top, top-class horse. I think the ground was a bit softer in Paris than it was given, and I expect him to bounce back to his best at a track where he's been devastating before. Although we just about beat him in Paris, I think it will be very tight.” Joseph O'Brien has supplemented the St Leger winner, Highwayman (Persian King), while his number one rider Dylan Browne McMonagle returns to the saddle on Monday ahead of the weekend. “Highwayman has been supplemented for the staying race,” O'Brien confirmed on Monday. “He's had a good preparation. I'm happy with him and he's trained well since Doncaster. It's a step up to go against the older horses and up further in distance. Hopefully, he can cope with it. “Dylan's back riding today, so hopefully everything goes smoothly this week and he'll be back riding this weekend. He's been off for a while now, so it's great for him and for us to have him back.” Almeraq (Dark Angel), the leading sprinter in Europe, is among 17 speedsters confirmed for the G1 Qatar Racing British Champions Sprint Stakes, with Soul Love (Starman) supplemented for Karl Burke. The race is set to have a distinctly European feel to it with G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest winner Samangan (Blue Point) in line to represent France, G2 Minstrel Stakes winner Power Blue (Space Blues) coming over from Ireland and Great Wish (Night Of Thunder), a Group 3 winner at Deauville this year, flying the flag for Denmark. Two-time winner and G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes heroine Kalpana heads 15 entries for the G1 Qatar Racing British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes, alongside G1 Irish Oaks winner Johanna Walsh (Sea The Stars) and fellow three-year-olds Lilt (Lope De Vega) and Sparan Nua (Dawn Approach). Francis-Henri Graffard's Tajlina (Kingman) and the Andrew Balding-trained See The Fire (Sea The Stars) have been supplemented. The day is set to open with the second running of the Qatar Racing British Champions Day Two-Year-Old Conditions Stakes, with the G2 Gimcrack Stakes hero Arapaho Gold (Bayside Boy) and the profilic Night In Vegas (Lucky Vega) featuring among 18 confirmations, along with Inner City Blues (Blue Point) and Nabati (Night Of Thunder), both Group 2 winners for the Charlie Appleby stable. The Balmoral Stakes (Sponsored by Qatar Racing) will conclude the day and 54 horses have been confirmed, including last year's winner Crown Of Oaks (Wootton Bassett). The going at Ascot is currently 'Good' with GoingStick readings taken at 10am on Monday, October 12. Chris Stickels, clerk of the course and head of racing at Ascot Racecourse, said, “We're in really good shape ahead of Saturday and can confirm that we will be on the normal Flat track. “There could be the odd shower early in the week and then some rain is forecast for Thursday night into Friday, but only between 2-5mm is expected. Unless the forecast changes drastically – and I don't think it's going to – I would expect us to be similar ground to where we are now, which is Good all over on both the Round and Straight Course.” The post Stars Assemble for Qatar Racing British Champions Day appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Justin McDonald brings nearly 30 years of marketing experience to his role at the Breeders' Cup, where he oversees strategy for brand management, ticketing, broadcast and media, wagering, digital and social marketing, advertising, consumer research, customer relationship management, public relations and promotional programs. As attention turns to the Breeders' Cup, McDonald discussed how his organization markets the championship. Q: This is the 43rd Breeders' Cup since its inception in 1984. How has it evolved since you joined the organization in 2012? The racing product has always been extraordinary from day one, so what we try to do is invest more significantly in the experience around it – from enhanced hospitality, elevated food and beverage offerings, and just the overall fan and participant experience. We want to make sure everything surrounding the racing feels just as amazing as the product on the track and be worthy of a world championship. We've also become a little more sophisticated in the way we build and engage an audience. When I started, marketing was much more concentrated around the two-day championship event. Social and digital have changed a lot in that same period, so it's really given us the tools to cover Challenge Series races more deeply and connect them to the championships by telling some of those stories. And we've become a much more global property. This year, [Challenge Series] races were held in 14 countries. We're attracting much more international participation. That allows us to distribute our content to more audiences globally. Q: Forever Young's victory in the Classic last year was a win for the Japan market. How much of a priority is international to your strategy? It's near the top. Our marketing efforts start with the horse. If we can get the best horses from around the world to participate, everything else can build from there. Forever Young, just look at his journey last year and even this year: Saudi Cup and Dubai World Cup both years, and Jockey Club Gold Cup this year. All Challenge Races leading to Breeders' Cup Classic. Then he went to the Dubai World Cup. He didn't win them all, but he's still establishing his pathway to the Breeders' Cup. So that allows us to wrap our arms around it on social, start telling the stories. And then that gets international markets like Japan more interested in broadcasting it, making it accessible locally, and then giving those fans a genuine rooting interest in the World Championship. Q: Your annual report boasts that you're reaching more people through social media. What content has the most appeal for people who don't follow racing regularly? I think this is probably true for a lot of sports, but it's personality, it's emotion, it's access. Obviously, the competition. Take [viewers] inside the paddock, or back to the barn to introduce them to the equine athletes that are our stars, and also the jockeys who have great stories behind that we want to try to tell. Giving people a connection and a rooting interest through personality and emotion. We're also increasingly working with creators, because they introduce us to a whole new audience that might not come across us through our own channels or through traditional racing media. And the key there is authenticity. We're not trying to make the creator suddenly be a racing expert. We're allowing them to take what we have, which we believe is something special, and then tell that story in their own voice across their channels. And then, hopefully, once we get someone interested, we have the opportunity to take them down the marketing funnel from there. Q: What international championship events do you look to as aspirational models or benchmarks? There's not one property we're trying to copy. We take different lessons from different sports. Formula 1, they've done an extraordinary job creating year-round global storytelling and cultural relevancy. Then you have the Masters and Wimbledon, who demonstrate that an event can be incredibly premium and scarce on site but still reach massive audiences off-site. And then, the Ryder Cup and somewhat the Olympics. They show the power of international rooting interests. We as a sport and particularly at the Breeders' Cup have all those elements. Our opportunity is to build on what's unique about us, rather than trying to copy somebody else. Q: Regarding your premium ticketing strategy, in 2024, you cut general admission ticketing in half to create a less-crowded experience for patrons. Last year's event at Del Mar was the least attended in 20 years (excluding Covid years). Did the exclusivity go too far? I don't think so. I mean, look, we have the best horses in the world, and we want to match that with the experience. We could pack in the small tracks fairly easily, but we don't believe it's going to provide the experience that our fans want. I think there's a fine balance in there, to your point. We've got to find the right mix of what is scarce and what is premium, and what's still going to allow people to have access to the Breeders' Cup. Ultimately, we want the experience to work for everybody: the serious racing fan, the bettor, the owner, and the participant, or someone attending the Breeders' Cup for the first time. Q: What marketing considerations go into host track selection, like raising the sport's profile in host markets? First and foremost, it has to be a world-class racing venue capable of hosting the World Championships, from the racing surfaces to stabling capacity, safety and operations. They all have to meet that standard. Then we look at the fan experience, the hospitality, the ticketing capacity, local market hotel inventory, transportation, what's the experience going to be like getting in and out. And then the ability of the host community to support an event of our scale. We also want to make sure the venue can contribute to the growth of our brand and the Breeders' Cup to feel special wherever it goes. Q: How does your partnership with NBC work? Your annual report says your marketing spending on television was cut last year to save on costs. I can't talk about the specifics of our contract, but NBC is a valuable partner to us. And that partnership is much more than just a t.v. rights relationship. NBC broadcasted the first Breeders' Cup in 1984. They've been our home for 36 of our 42 events, and they've been great partners. This year, we'll have ten-and-a-half hours of coverage, with all 14 races shown live, across NBC or USA. And then we'll have our continuous streaming coverage on Peacock. Then there's the promotional support that they provide, which is incredibly invaluable. In the week leading up to the Breeders' Cup, they're promoting us across some of the biggest sports properties in the country, including Football Night in America, Big Ten Saturday Night, the NBA, and the Premier League. So that's millions of dollars of national promotional value and puts us in front of sports fans who might not be considering watching the Breeders' Cup. We've changed our broadcast strategy to be more of a distribution strategy. We're able to stream our live races across social media, and that really allows us to meet the fans where they're consuming content. And NBC has been incredibly supportive of that broader multi-platform strategy. Q: How do you leverage the Challenge Series to develop storylines that build interest for the main event? We now have 95 races around the world that lead to the Breeders' Cup. That gives us more of an opportunity to tell stories and engage fans throughout the year. We work with NBC and our friends at NYRA and FOX to see what available windows we have each year to put Challenge Series races on TV. It's an ever-changing scheduling discussion. The tracks are helping us promote their Challenge Series races and connect them to the World Championships, but then we're promoting their races. It's a two-way partnership. Our social team is at pretty much every major Challenge race throughout the year. They're getting behind-the-scenes content in the barns in the days leading up, whether it's to be on FOX or NBC or FanDuel, making sure people know where to watch that weekend, to tell those stories of these horses and the journey that they're on to the World Championships. Q: This year's event falls on Halloween. Last year's event competed with Game 7 of the World Series. Will you alter your future schedule? I don't think we've found a material issue with running the event on Halloween. All major sports are running on that day. You have college football, you have NHL, you have the NBA, potentially Game 7 of the World Series will be on Halloween this year. From a national sports landscape and consumption standpoint, it's certainly something we think about, but there are a lot of other factors that come into play when our dates are set. The post Q&A with Justin McDonald, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Breeders’ Cup appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article
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