The Breeders’ Cup Classic is the marquee race at this championship event and annually attracts many of the best racehorses in the world.
This year is no different, with a competitive field of older horses, and 3-year-olds, lining up in the finale on Saturday at Keeneland Race Course.
Here are some interesting facts about the 2020 Classic:
1. This year’s race is worth $6 million dollars, making it one of the richest races in the world. The Winning horse (and his connections) will earn $3,120,000 of the total purse.
2. Trainer Bob Baffert has three contenders in this year’s Classic, including Kentucky Derby Winner AUTHENTIC as well as older horses IMPROBABLE and MAXIMUM SECURITY.
3. ZENYATTA is the only female Winner of the Classic, doing so in 2009.
4. The biggest payout in Breeders’ Cup history came in the 1993 Classic, when ARCANGUES paid $269.20 for a $2 Win bet. The French invader was sent off at odds of 134-1.
5. No horse has Won the Classic by a larger margin than 2015 Triple Crown Champ AMERICAN PHAROAH, who finished the 2015 Classic 6 ½ lengths ahead of runner-up EFFINEX.
6. Joel Rosario and Irad Ortiz Jr. are the only jockeys in this year’s race who have Won the Classic before. Ortiz, who will be aboard IMPROBABLE, will seek his second consecutive Classic Win after piloting VINO ROSSO last year. Rosario, who will ride TOM’S D’ETAT, Won with ACCELERATE in 2018.
7. Only one horse has Won the Breeders’ Cup Classic twice: TIZNOW, who was Victorious in 2000 and 2001.
8. The Classic has involved the eventual Horse of the Year (racing’s highest year-end honor) on 20 occasions. Thirteen of those Champions Won the Classic.
9. The race has been decided by a nose five times, most recently when BAYERN bested TOAST OF NEW YORK in 2014.
10. AUTHENTIC will attempt to become just the second Kentucky Derby Winner since 1990, to also Triumph in the Classic. The aforementioned AMERICAN PHAROAH is the other. The Classic was Won by a Kentucky Derby Winner each year from 1987-1990.
11. The Classic has the third-highest Winning payoff average among all Breeders’ Cup races, with a $2 ticket paying $24.86 on average.
