Breeders' Cup Facts
In Breeders' Cup records, the United States has produced the biggest number of Breeders' Cup winners with a total 122. Ireland has produced 13 winners, the UK fielded 8 winning horses, France had 5 winners while Argentina and Canada have three wins apiece.
Aside from the United States' 19 Breeders' Cup Classic Division wins, only Ireland and Canada have had winners in the Classic Division. In 1991, the Irish thoroughbred "Black Tie Affair" won the Breeders' Cup Classic and in 1998, Canadian-bred "Awesome Again" captured the crown.
The record attendance for a Breeders' Cup event was on November 7, 1998 at Churchill Downs in Kentucky. A record 80,452 spectators watched as Canada's Awesome Again won the Breeders' Cup Classic race beating crowd-favorite Skip Away.
Awesome Again later sired a couple of horses who became champions in last year's Breeders' Cup. They are Wilko, who won the Juvenile Division race, and 2004 Classic Division winner Ghostzapper.
The largest winning margin by a horse in any Breeders' Cup race in history is 13 ½ lengths achieved by Inside Information in the Distaff Division during the 1995 Breeders' Cup held at Belmont Park.
Pat Day holds the record as the only jockey to have participated in all 21 years of the Breeders' Cup. He is also the leading Breeders' Cup jockey in terms of total money won as he has already pocketed over $23 million from his 21-years stint with the Breeders' Cup.
Tiznow is the only horse to have won two consecutive Breeders' Cup Classics. He won the 2000 race at Churchill Downs and successfully defended his title in 2001 at Belmont Park.
Churchill Downs has hosted the Breeders' Cup five times, this is more than any other track. Santa Anita, Hollywood, Belmont and Gulfstream Parks have each hosted the event three times.
The Breeders' Cup stepped out of American soil only once in its 21-year history. In 1996 the event was held at Woodbine in Ontario, Canada.
The 2006 Breeders' Cup Classic had a total purse of US $4 million, and the winner's share is more than $2 million.
The most impressive performance in Breeders' Cup Classic history was that of Skip Away in 1997. The four-year-old moved to the lead with five furlongs remaining, and went on to triumph by six lengths, with a time of 1:59.16.
Eight Breeders' Cup winners have sired fellow Breeders' Cup winners. But only two of those sired multiple winners. These are Unbridled (Classic 1990) who sired Unbridled's Song (Juvenile 1995), Anees (Juvenile 1999) and Halfbridled (Juvenile Fillies 2003), and Cozzene (Mile 1985) who sired Tikkanen (Turf 1994) and Alphabet Soup (Classic 1996).