Alberto-Culver to Sponsor BC Juvenile Fillies

Albert-Culver Co., which first sponsored a Breeders' Cup race in 1989, has signed on as title sponsor of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (gr. I) and the Juvenile Fillies Division, effective this year. Breeders' Cup, for the first time, now has title sponsors for all eight World Thoroughbred Championships races.

The $1-million Alberto VO5 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies will be part of the Oct. 29 World Thoroughbred Championships at Belmont Park. The 1 1/16-mile event is the world's richest event for 2-year-old fillies.

The Juvenile Fillies Division includes 13 graded stakes leading up to the Breeders' Cup. Alberto-Culver also becomes the official hair-care provider for the 2005 Breeders' Cup.

Alberto-Culver, under the name Consort Hair Spray, sponsored the 1989 Breeders' Cup Sprint (gr. I), and the 1990-91 Breeder's Cup Distaff (gr. I). It continued sponsoring the Distaff from 1992-99 under the name Alberto VO5. From 2000-02 and again in 2004, the company sponsored the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (gr. IT).

The company is by far the longest-running Breeders' Cup sponsor.

"We are delighted that Alberto-Culver--our longest standing Breeders' Cup partner--has secured the title sponsorship of the Juvenile Fillies and the Juvenile Fillies Division," Breeders' Cup president and National Thoroughbred Racing Association president D.G. Van Clief Jr. said in a release. "We greatly value the commitment by Alberto-Culver and its chairman emeritus, Leonard Lavin, to the Breeders' Cup.

"We are extremely proud of completing sponsorship agreements for all eight Breeders' Cup races this year. We believe our full integration of year-round NTRA marketing partnerships has made sponsorship of our event and Thoroughbred racing a viable and successful opportunity in the corporate community."

Lavin, chairman of the board of Alberto-Culver, is a longtime Thoroughbred owner and breeder who owns Glen Hill Farm in Ocala, Fla. He was eight years old when he witnessed his first Kentucky Derby (gr. I) in 1928 at Churchill Downs, and in 1994 won the Breeders' Cup Distaff with One Dreamer.

Dan Stone, vice president of corporate communications for Alberto-Culver, said the company believes the NTRA and Breeders' Cup has been successful in building the World Thoroughbred Championships.