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Last updated: November 5, 2022 at 9:45 p.m. EDT

Breeders’ Cup Results

The 2022 Breeders’ Cup will be held at Keeneland on Saturday, November 4th & 5th.


Breeders’ Cup Classic Results

The Breeders’ Cup is open to any horse aged three years or more and is run over a distance of 1 ¼ miles, which is the same distance as the Kentucky Derby. Despite the uncapped age limit, the horse is typically won by horses aged three-years-old to five-years old.

There are no official speed records for the Breeders’ Cup Classic since it is hosted by different tracks each year. However, three horses have set track records in the Classic. Ghostzapper clocked in at 1:59.02 at Lone Star Park and recorded the fastest ever time at both the track and the Breeders’ Cup Classic. American Pharoah’s winning time of 2:00.17 in 2015 set a track record at Keeneland as well. Finally, Alphabet Soup’s time of 2:01.00 set a record at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Canada.

Tiznow is the only horse to have won the race twice, doing is in 2000 and 2001.

Zenyatta became the only female champion of the Breeders’ Cup Classic in 2009.

Only one ownership has won the race multiple times. That honor belongs to the Stronach Group who run Awesome Again in 1998 and Ghostzapper in 2004.

Chris McCarron and Jerry Bailey are the most successful riders at the Breeders’ Cup Classic with 5 wins each.

Bob Baffert is the reigning king of the Breeders’ Cup Classic having won the last three renewals with Arrogate (2016), American Pharoah (2015) and Bayern (2014) all capturing victory as three-year-olds.

American Pharoah also owns the largest margin of victory, beating Effinex by 6 ½ lengths at Santa Anita in 2015.

Past Breeders’ Cup Classic Results

YEARHORSETIMEVENUE
2022Flightline2:00.05Keeneland
2021Knicks Go1:59.57Del Mar
2020Authentic1:59.19Keeneland
2019Vino Rosso2:02.80Santa Anita
2018Accelerate2:02.93Churchill Downs
2017Gun Runner2:01.29Del Mar
2016Arrogate2:00.11Santa Anita
2015American Pharoah2:00.07Keeneland
2014Bayern1:59.88Santa Anita
2013Mucho Macho Man2:00.72Santa Anita
2012Fort Larned2:00.11Santa Anita
2011Drosselmeyer2:04.27Churchill Downs
2010Blame2:02.28Churchill Downs
2009Zenyatta†2:00.32Santa Anita
2008Raven’s Pass1:59.27Santa Anita
2007Curlin2:00.59Monmouth Park
2006Invasor (ARG)2:02.18Churchill Downs
2005Saint Liam2:01.49Belmont Park
2004Ghostzapper1:59.02Lone Star Park
2003Pleasantly Perfect1:59.88Santa Anita
2002Volponi2:01.39Arlington Park
2001Tiznow2:00.62Belmont Park
2000Tiznow2:00.75Churchill Downs
1999Cat Thief1:59.52Gulfstream Park
1998Awesome Again2:02.16Churchill Downs
1997Skip Away1:59.16Hollywood Park
1996Alphabet Soup2:01.00Woodbine
1995Cigar1:59.58Belmont Park
1994Concern2:02.41Churchill Downs
1993Arcangues (FR)2:00.83Santa Anita
1992A.P. Indy2:00.20Gulfstream Park
1991Black Tie Affair2:02.95Churchill Downs
1990Unbridled2:02.20Belmont Park
1989Sunday Silence2:00.20Gulfstream Park
1988Alysheba2:04.80Churchill Downs
1987Ferdinand2:01.40Hollywood Park
1986Skywalker2:00.40Santa Anita
1985Proud Truth2:00.80Aqueduct
1984Wild Again2:03.40Hollywood Park

Results of The Breeders’ Cup Classic

Though the Breeders’ Cup Classic does not have the history of its counterparts in the Triple Crown, it is well renowned as one of the biggest horse races of the year. Making its debut in 1984 the Classic is the marquee main event of the Breeders’ Cup World Championship program, which takes place at the very end of October or the first weekend of November.

The venue for the Breeders’ Cup Classic changes every year. It has been most frequently hosted by Santa Anita and Churchill Downs.

To further acknowledge the prestige of the Breeders’ Cup Classic, the race was lumped in with the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes to form the coveted Grand Slam. This holy grail of American racing was thought to be unattainable, largely because a 38-year drought existed since Affirmed won the last Triple Crown in 1978 before the Breeders’ Cup even existed.

American Pharoah shattered that line of thinking in 2015 with one of the most impressive, single-year campaigns of any horse in the history of the sport. By winning the Triple Crown that season and the Breeders’ Cup Classic later in the year, American Pharoah became the first and only Grand Slam Champion in history.

The only other horse who came close was Sunday Silence who won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and the Breeders’ Cup Classic in 1989. Sunday Silence would come up short as the runner-up in that year’s Belmont Stakes, but was recognized for his achievement with a “Small Slam” which is attained by winning three of the four major races.

Beginning in 1984, the purse for the Breeders’ Cup Classic was $3,000,000. This was raised to $4,000,000 in 1996 and again to $5,000,000 in 2005. As of 2016, the purse was raised to $6,000,000 making it the second largest purse in American Thoroughbred racing behind the new Pegasus World Cup which will boast a $12 million purse.


2015 Breeders’ Cup Results

Keeneland hosted the Breeders’ Cup for the first time ever in 2015, and despite some fears that the venue would be too small, it proved both successful and popular with the fans.

Quite a few firsts actually took place in the 2015 Breeders’ Cup, the most important being American Pharoah completing the first-ever Grand Slam of Racing when conquering the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

The bay colt had already gained fame when becoming just the 12th Triple Crown by ending a 37-year drought with victories in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes. American Pharaoh entered the Breeders’ Cup Classic off his only loss on the year, which came in the Travers, and faced the winner of that event in Keen Ice. The champion easily schooled that rival and all others, leaving no doubt who was best with an effortless 6 1/2-length romp in the Breeders’ Cup Classic to complete the Grand Slam sweep of Triple Crown races and Classic.

Another first in the 2015 Breeders’ Cup came thanks to Mongolian Saturday, who lived up to his name in the TwinSpires.com Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. The five-year-old gelding just held off Lady Shipman to give his Mongolian owners and trainer a first win in the Breeders’ Cup.

Also on Breeders’ Cup Saturday, Found became the first three-year-old filly to win the Breeders’ Cup Turf. She became just the third female to win the Turf following Pebbles (1985) and Miss Alleged (1991), who were both four-year-olds at the time of their wins. Found joined Tepin in beating the boys, as that latter runner romped in the Breeders’ Cup Mile over an international cast. 

Stephanie’s Kitten proved best in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf after running second in the 2014 edition while Wavell Avenue provided a slight upset as the 10-1 victress of the TwinSpires.com Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint.

A number of championships were sewn up in the 2015 Breeders’ Cup. Runhappy pretty much wrapped up champion sprinter honors when setting a new track record in the TwinSpires.com Breeders’ Cup Sprint, while both Songbird and Nyquist completed perfect campaigns en route to probable Eclipse Awards in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

On Breeders’ Cup Friday, Stopchargingmaria kept right on charging to victory in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, capping off a day that saw Catch a Glimpse give trainer Mark Casse his first Breeders’ Cup win in the Juvenile Fillies Turf, Hit It a Bomb prevail in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf for Aiden O’Brien and Liam’s Map close out his career with a nice win in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.

To read more on specific winners of the Breeders’ Cup, visit our helpful BC winners page.

As always, TwinsSpires will be here for all of your Breeders Cup betting needs.