This can involve horse races, but there was a touch of baseball attached to bringing it the breeder’s cup to Belmont Park in 2027.
About two years ago, the CEO and president of the Breeders’ Cup Drew Fleming borrowed a line from the film “Field of Dreams” in a letter to the New York Racing Association and to the Governor of New York, Kathy Hochul. He essentially told them that Rebuild Belmont Park and Breeders’ Cup will return to the Big Apple.
On May 28 in Manhattan, Fleming made its promises.
Breeders ‘Cup Limited announced that the 2027 world championships will be held from October 29 to 30 of the same year in Belmont Park, marking the return of the event for the first time since 2005. He also declared that the Breeders’ Cup 2026 would take place Keenelland.
The news was described at a New York media event attended by Hochul, the president of Nyra, Marc Holliday, the president and chief executive officer of Nyra, Dave O’Rourke, the CEO and president of Keeneland Shannon Arvin, and Fleming.
“In 2023, we wrote a letter (to Governor Hochul) and we made a promise. If you build it, we will come. And today, I am honored to stay faithful to our word and bring back the Breeders world championships’ Cup to the Big Apple in 2027, where we will welcome fans of the whole world in a new era of New York Racing in a beautiful Belm ( Fleming.
Belmont Park, who is currently being reconstructed thanks to a loan of $ 455 million in the state, should reopen in September 2026. It will be the fifth time that the Breeders’ Cup has been staged in Belmont and the sixth time that a Nyra circuit race is the host. Hippodrome was the site of the second breeders’ cup in 1985.
“When Nyra started to create a new Belmont world park in the world class, we wanted to make the historic installation more than upgrade,” said Holliday. “Our objective was to build something new and exciting. An incredible place to present the race in what is undoubtedly one of the most important markets in the world. We have decided to build something convincing and to create a new standard for racing entertainment to please a generation of new fans. We knew that if we realized this vision, we would attract events like Breeders’ Cup. These efforts. “
Governor Hochul praised Holliday and Nyra’s work to make New Belmont Park a reality.
“It is a great day for our city and our state. I want to thank Marc for being a visionary. When he showed me the plan (for Belmont Park) … I loved it because it was so brilliant and created this incredible contrast in our own state of having Saratoga with the turning point par excellence of the last century,” she said of the past for days. “It’s New York, and we are doing things big, daring and daring, and Marc, you were the person who obtained that on the finish line; so you got me in Hello.”
By making the gap between the stops at Belmont Park, Fleming stressed the importance of a Breeders’ Cup in New York at the entire industry.
“It’s incredibly important,” said Fleming. “The New York market likes horse racing, and our mission is to devote two of the best racing days and develop sport. This is something that our fans wanted and what we wanted to do. And I could not be more proud to have an excellent partnership with Marc and David and their whole team to organize exceptional world championships.”
During the reconstruction of the race surfaces in Belmont, a new configuration will be introduced for races of 1 1/4 mile, such as the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), offering a more fluid and less clear race towards the backstretch. The horses had already made about half a bottle of a chute because the main track of Belmont being 1 1/2 miles in circumference.
Keeneland welcomed Breeders’ Cup in 2022 for the last time, and it will be the fourth time since 2015 that the world championships have been disputed on the Lexington track. The 2026 event in Keeneland is scheduled from October 30 to 31 of next year.
“We strive to always present the best races, and the Breeders Cup sticks to it,” said Arvin. “Our companies really have very similar missions insofar as we are designed to perpetuate the best of the race and do what is good for sport and what is good for the horse. We are very sharing the same ideas.”
When Keeneland joined the Breeders’ Cup rotation in 2015, the concerns showed that the place was too small for the event, but it turned out to be an ideal location.
“Keeneland is our national Augusta,” said Fleming, referring to the site of the famous Masters golf tournament. “I think that every time you take someone to Keeneland, they instantly become a racing fan. We have an excellent long -standing partnership with Keeneland. I think that in 2015, there were skeptics that we could not have a breeder’s cup in a place of this size, and we have proven that.”
Among the new fans of additions to the Breeders 2026 Cup will see Keeneland, the new Paddock Building, a project at a price of more than $ 100 million, which, according to Arvin, will be completed this fall, and new reception experiences.
The Breeders’ Cup of this year will take place on October 31-Nov. 1 to Del MarMarking its second consecutive year on the site and the third consecutive year in a California race track.
The return of Belmont Park to the rotation of the place of the Breeders Cup gives the series a look is more balanced is with Keeneland and Belmont Park on the East Coast and Del Mar And Santa Anita Park on the west coast. Fleming said Churchill DownsWho has not welcomed Breeders’ Cup since 2018, would also be in rotation. Churchill has undergone major reconstruction projects in recent years.
“It is very exciting to see the development and the infrastructure and the investment that the traces of the country do. There is the new Belmont park, the expansion of Keeneland and we have an excellent partnership with Churchill Downs. They put a wonderful Kentucky investment (G1) with a record viewer, a record handle and the number of investments in the decreases of Churchill is exceptional,” declared Fleming. “I think the best part of the Breeders ‘Cup is that we are turning on sites. This is a very good opportunity for the Breeders’ Cup to continue to turn to all these fantastic places.”
