Belmont Park gets '05 Breeders Cup Races

By: Sports Network

An agreement has been reached in principle between the Breeders" Cup, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association and the New York Racing Association for Belmont Park to host the 2005 World Thoroughbred Championships. The 2005 edition of the Breeders" Cup races will be conducted on October 29. The program will again be televised by NBC.

The 22nd running of the Breeders" Cup will visit Belmont Park for the fourth time and it marks the fifth time the NYRA has played host. Aqueduct held the Breeders" Cup in 1985 while Belmont Park hosted the event in 1990, 1995 and 2001.

This year"s World Thoroughbred Championships will be conducted at Santa Anita on October 25. Next year"s running will be at Lone Star Park in suburban Dallas, Texas.

Also announced on Monday was the agreement with Dodge to sponsor the Breeders" Cup Classic. Dodge will also be a marketing partner with the NTRA and Breeders" Cup.

The Breeders" Cup Classic is the richest thoroughbred race in North America at $4 million. Officially, the new name of the race is the Breeders" Cup Classic, Powered by Dodge.

In addition, two of the Breeders" Cup races will each have $500,000 increases in the purses. The Bessemer Trust Breeders" Cup Juvenile and the NetJets Breeders" Cup Mile are now each worth $1.5 million. The total purse for the eight race World Thoroughbred Championships is now $14 million.

The Breeders" Cup Distaff for fillies and mares will now be sponsored by Nextel.

The Nextel Breeders" Cup Distaff is worth $2 million and is run at the distance of 1 1/8 miles. Recently, Nextel took over sponsorship of the NASCAR series.