Keeneland Race Course has been an upper echelon Thoroughbred Racing venue for many years —Keeneland celebrated its 90th anniversary Oct. 15th, 2026.
But for the first 30-plus years of the Breeders’ Cup the Lexington track had not hosted the World Championships.
That injustice was corrected with an announcement by Breeders’ Cup officials on June 24th, 2014, when Keeneland was named a first-time host track for 2015.
The success of that first Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland was duly noted and Keeneland once again hosted in 2020 and 2022.
Heading into the 4th Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland this weekend here’s a brief look back at the initial two-day Breeders’ Cup event at Keeneland eleven years ago:
Coincidently, that Breeder’s Cup also fell on October 30th and 31st. There was so much interest in the first Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland that tickets went on sale March 4th, 2015, and the public scooped up a record 60,000 tickets in just five hours for the two-day event.
Even with significant hype as the hottest ticket in town, the event exceeded expectations.
The headliner for the inaugural Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland was Triple Crown winner AMERICAN PHAROAH, whose task got a bit easier leading up to the race when BEHOLDER scratched from the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
AMERICAN PHAROAH completed the Grand Slam sweep of the Triple Crown races and the Classic with a 6 ½-length romp to close his career with nine wins from 11 starts.
AMERICAN PHAROAH was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame in 2021 and BEHOLDER, who retired in 2016 with three Breeders’ Cup wins, joined him in 2022.
After the telecast of the Breeders’ Cup, NBC reported the highest television ratings for the Classic in 20 years.
Two other future Hall of Famers also won on that Saturday’s card as SONGBIRD dominated the Juvenile Fillies by 5 ¾ lengths to cap a championship campaign and TEPIN defeated males by 2 ¼ lengths in the Breeders’ Cup Mile.
SONGBIRD would go on to win 13 of 15 career starts and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2023, while TEPIN would win 13 of 23 starts, finish 2nd in the 2016 Mile, and landed in the Hall of Fame in 2022.
The 2015 Breeders’ Cup truly was a remarkable event in terms of star power as Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner NYQUIST went on to capture the following year’s Kentucky Derby.
3-year-old filly FOUND upset Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner GOLDDEN HORN in the Breeders’ Cup Turf, and dazzling sprinter RUNHAPPY assured an Eclipse Award with a victory in the Sprint.
Nine horses who competed at the 2015 Breeders’ Cup took home Eclipse Awards in their division.
