Monday Morning Message with Jason Beem Nov. 3, 2025

Jason discusses this weekend's Breeders' Cup and shares some thoughts and issues from the event. 

A good Monday morning to you all! Hope everyone had a good and profitable Breeders’ Cup. 

I thought as a whole it was kind of a “par” edition of the event. As always, there’s some good races, we had some upsets and some favorites, and overall, it’s still one of the better moments of the year in the racing world. But to me, there just wasn’t a whole lot of wow factor moments throughout the two days. 

Also, the fact that Game 7 of the World Series was an all-time classic, maybe that dampened the impact for me personally? Be curious to hear your guys’ thoughts. 

One thing I’ve noticed about big days when it comes to social media is that they become referendums about the game as a whole. Any issues, big or small, that come up during the Breeders' Cup get put to the mirror of the bigger game and pointed out, just on a larger scale. Like before the Sprint (G1) when they had the horse ambulance directly in front of the gate as the horses were loading and breaking. Is it the worst thing that can happen? Of course not. In the grand scheme of things, it’s just an eyesore for an important camera shot. Just one of those “slap your forehead” moments, I guess. 

A very cool moment on the in-house broadcast happened when one of the hosts interviewed trainer Librado Barocio before the Sprint. I don’t recall seeing this gentleman before in an interview and to see the joy, excitement, and nerves that he was experiencing as he saddled Lovesick Blues before the $2 million event was a real breath of fresh air.

At the top levels of racing, we’re so used to seeing the same names at these events, that it was really cool to see someone experiencing this as a newer participant. Also interviews with some of the owners gave that same sense of excitement, as you could tell they were all really soaking in the experience. 

The crowd on track was the second smallest live attendance ever for a Breeders’ Cup, behind only 2021, also at Del Mar. The only Breeders’ Cup I’ve ever attended was at Del Mar in 2017, and I remember not feeling overwhelmed by the crowd that day, and I believe attendance was capped. I thought Del Mar was a great place to attend a Breeders’ Cup back then, and I’m sure it was fun for those who went this time.

I have to think some of what kept people from attending was the ticket prices. In my 20 years of working in racing, I’ve been to two “major” events, and that was the BC in 2017 and the Preakness (G1) in 2024. Both times I was offered comped tickets, and I was able to make the trips. And both visits were fantastic and left me wanting to attend more events like that. But I’m not paying hundreds of dollars for tickets, parking, food, etc., to go. If you’re a bettor who would normally bet $500 on the Breeders’ Cup, you’re in that much just for the essentials to be there, and that’s not counting hotels and travel costs. 

This gets into the discussion of whether we are a sport or a gambling event. The answer in some ways is both, but in my opinion, we always need to promote and treat it as a gambling game first. If the goal is to get people to come out and bet on the races, you can’t charge that much money for tickets. I mean you can, you’re just going to have fewer and fewer people attend because money is getting tighter for most of us.

I was more than happy to sit in the comfort of my home and watch the action on TwinSpires for no extra cost at all. It’s just too convenient and too quality of an experience to watch and wager from home now, so spending hundreds of dollars on tickets I just don’t think is going to be accessible to mass audiences. 

Maybe I’m wrong, I’ve been wrong before. I love the Breeders’ Cup, it’s one of my favorite weekends of the year. Like most of us who love racing, we just want to see it succeed and will continue to promote it as much as I can. I’ll be discussing all the races and all things Breeders’ Cup on my show this week, so tune in!