2015 Breeders' Cup

The 2015 Breeders' Cup World Championships was the 32nd edition of the thoroughbred horse racing season-ending premier event held on October 30 and 31 at Keeneland in Lexington, Kentucky. The race series, held for the first time at Keeneland, required a significant amount of preparation to transform the small, historic track into a venue capable of handling large crowds, comprising 13 championship races held over a two-day period.

The highlight of the series was the victory of American Pharoah in the Breeders' Cup Classic, becoming the first horse in history to complete the "grand slam" of the three Triple Crown races plus the Classic. In the process he set a track record at Keeneland, and hosting the Breeders' Cup for the first time broke the attendance record for the Keeneland facility.

Event preparation

In 2014, the management of Keeneland began to replace the synthetic Polytrack racing surface of its main race track with dirt. While the synthetic surface, installed in 2006, was considered safer for horses, it also was not popular with horse owners because it was too different from the dirt tracks where many major races were held. Returning the track to a dirt surface was a significant factor in Keeneland's bid host the Breeders' Cup in 2015. The Keeneland bid was successful and was officially announced on June 24, 2014.

2007 Breeders' Cup

The 2007 Breeders' Cup World Championships took place October 26 and 27 at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, New Jersey. The 2007 Event marked the first time the event has been held over two days.

Friday: New Races

In January, The Breeders' Cup announced the creation of three new $1 million races to be held on Friday, the day before the traditional big day. The three new races did not have Grade 1 status, meaning that these were the first Breeders' Cup Races that were not run under Grade 1 status. All Breeders' Cup Races got grade 1 status before they were run in 1984.

The three New races were:

TV: ESPN2 4-6 PM ET
The attendance was 27,803.

Saturday: Day 2

The following races were run on the next day:

The Classic was marred by a fatal injury suffered by George Washington, the 2006 European 3-year-old champion who had returned to training when his stud career was scuttled by fertility problems. He suffered a dislocated fracture of his right front ankle and was euthanized on the track.

2011 Breeders' Cup

The 2011 Breeders' Cup World Championships was the 28th edition of thoroughbred racing's season ending premier event, and took place on November 4 and 5 at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky.

Friday

The Breeders' Cup races were part of a 10 race program with post time at 2:00 pm EST for the first race. The post time of the first Breeders' Cup race was 4:12 pm EST. The attendance was 40,677.

Saturday

The Breeders' Cup races were part of a 12 race program with post time at 12:05 pm EST for the first race. The post time of the first Breeders' Cup race was 1:20 pm EST. The attendance was 65,143.

Highlights of the day's card was the attempt by Goldikova to win a fourth consecutive Breeders' Cup Mile in her last race. She was defeated into third place by 64–1 long shot Court Vision.Joseph O'Brien, son of famed Irish trainer Aidan O'Brien, became the youngest jockey to win a Breeders' Cup race (St Nicholas Abbey) at 18 years, 5 months, surpassing Fernando Jara, who was 18 years, 10 months old when he won the 2006 Classic on Invasor.