Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series Returns for 2022 World Championships

Breeders’ Cup Limited has announced the 2022 Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series: Win and You’re In schedule of 82 races in 11 countries, whose winners will receive automatic qualifying positions, and fees paid, into a corresponding race in the 2022 Breeders’ Cup World Championships.

Horses from around the globe will be qualifying through the Win and You’re In program for the 39^th Breeders’ Cup World Championships, consisting of 14 Grade 1 races and purses and awards totaling $31 million. This year’s Championships will be held at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky., on Nov. 4-5. The first U.S. Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series race of the year will be the Shoemaker Mile (G1) at Santa Anita Park on May 30.

The 2022 series in the U.S. has been restructured into a regional qualifying program to balance divisional competition across the country. In 11 of the 14 race divisions, there will be one Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series race per region, identified as East, Midwest, and West. Breeders’ Cup Challenge qualifying races in the Juvenile Turf and Juvenile Fillies Turf Divisions will be limited to two races. Breeders’ Cup will promote these regional rivalries on the road to the World Championships.

The exception to the regional format will be in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic Division, which will have six domestic races in this year’s series. The complete 2022 schedule can be found below.