Officials of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association and Breeders' Cup Limited have reached an agreement in principle with the New York Racing Association making Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., the host site for the 2005 Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships. The 22nd running of the Breeders' Cup, consisting of eight races with purses and awards totaling $14 million, will be run at Belmont Park on Saturday, October 29, 2005 and will be televised live by NBC Sports."We are delighted to reunite with the New York Racing Association and Belmont Park for the 2005 World Thoroughbred Championships," said NTRA bice chairman and Breeders' Cup president D.G. Van Clief, Jr. "The NYRA team has helped produce some of our most successful events, none more so than the 2001 Breeders' Cup, run in the aftermath of the tragedy of September 11. Working with city and state agencies, NYRA management and staff did an exemplary job staging an extraordinary event that raised more than $2 million for the families of those affected by 9/11.""The New York Racing Association is pleased and proud to welcome back the Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships," said Barry K. Schwartz, chairman of the Board and CEO of NYRA. "Belmont Park is a fitting site in its 100th anniversary season to showcase the best of Thoroughbred racing, as it has done throughout its first century. New Yorkers showed their strong support of Breeders' Cup Championship Day in the wake of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in 2001. We are thrilled to offer New York racing fans in particular and racing fans worldwide the opportunity to enjoy this outstanding day of international racing at Belmont Park once again."
This will be the fifth time that The New York Racing Association has hosted the Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships and the fourth time that the event will be contested at Belmont Park. The Breeders' Cup was previously held at Belmont in 1990, 1995 and in 2001. NYRA hosted the1985 Breeders' Cup at Aqueduct Racetrack.In addition to the NYRA tracks, during its 19-year history the Breeders' Cup also has been held at Churchill Downs in Kentucky, Hollywood Park and Santa Anita Park in California, Gulfstream Park in Florida and Woodbine in Ontario, Canada. This year's Breeders' Cup will be run on October 25 during the Oak Tree Meeting at Santa Anita Park. The 2004 Breeders' Cup will be run at Lone Star Park in the Dallas suburb of Grand Prairie, Texas.