Breeders' Cup update:

This is the first of 15 weekly news releases focusing on the horses and races leading to the 25th Breeders’ Cup World Championships on Friday, October 24 and Saturday, October 25 at Santa Anita Park. For more information, please visit www.breederscup.com.To track leading contenders to the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, sign up for Equibase’s special Breeders’ Cup Virtual Stable.

Saturday at Monmouth Park:
Champs Elysees seeks first Grade I in U.N.

Chapms Elysees(GB), an accomplished turf horse in Europe and the United States, looks to add a grade I win to his resume Saturday in Monmouth Park’s $750,000 United Nations, the featured event in the first North American race of this year’s Breeders’ Cup Challenge. Monmouth Park, the site of last year’s Breeders’ Cup, will host another Challenge race Saturday, the $300,000 Salvator Mile Handicap.

The United Nations winner will gain an automatic starting position into the $3 million Breeders' Cup Turf. In addition, the Salvator Mile, for 3-year-olds and up on the dirt, will earn its winner a starting berth in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.

The United Nations and the Salvator Mile will be shown live Saturday on ESPN2 at 6 p.m. ET.

Under the “Win and You’re In” expanded format, the first-place finishers in 57 internationally designated Breeders’ Cup Challenge races will earn starting positions in a corresponding divisional race in the 14-race, $25.5 million Breeders’ Cup World Championships on October 24-25 at Santa Anita Park. The format was introduced in 2007, with 24 races earning winners an automatic qualifying berth. This year, 17 tracks will participate in Challenge races that will be run in the United States, Canada, England, and Hong Kong.

Last year, champions Curlin, English Channel, Ginger Punch, and War Pass were winners of Breeders’ Cup Challenge races, and capitalized on those victories by winning their respective Breeders’ Cup World Championships divisional races.

Champs Elysees, a Juddmonte Farms homebred, will look to make amends for his sixth-place finish as the favorite in the grade I Charles Whittingham Handicap at Hollywood Park June 7. Toss out that effort for the Bobby Frankel-trained runner, and Champs Elysees brings a solid record to the 1 3/8-mile United Nations. In four other U.S. starts, Champs Elysees, a 5-year-old son of Danehill, won the grade II San Marcos at Santa Anita in January; finished second in the Grade 1 Hollywood Turf Cup in December; was third in the grade I Santa Anita Handicap on cushion track in March; and was a narrowly beaten second in the grade II Jim Murray Memorial at Hollywood in May. Champs Elysees is a confirmed distance runner, with wins ranging from 1 1/16 miles to 1 ½ miles. Before coming to the United States last fall, Champs Elysees was a Group 3 winner in France, and Group 1-placed in Italy.

Frankel, who seeks his third win in the United Nations, worked Champs Elysees last Saturday at Belmont Park. The horse covered five furlongs on the main track in 1:01.64, the 11th-fastest of 23 works at the distance.

Among Champs Elysees’ chief rivals in the United Nations are Precious Passion and Strike a Deal. Precious Passion, a multiple graded winner on turf, captured the Grade 3 Pan American in April at Gulfstream for trainer Mary Hartmann and owner Patricia Generazio.

Strike a Deal could be poised for a top effort in his third start off a layoff. The son of Smart Strike is coming off a fourth-place finish, beaten less than two lengths, in the Grade 1 Manhattan Handicap at Belmont June 7. The 4-year-old seeks his first graded win, following two runner-up efforts last year in graded stakes at Colonial Downs for trainer Alan Goldberg and owner Jayeff B Stables.

Gottcha Gold, a horse for the course at Monmouth, headlines the grade III Salvator Mile field. Last year, Gottcha Gold won the Salvator Mile, defeating one of the top handicap horses in the country, Lawyer Ron. Gottcha Gold later finished second to Corinthian in the inaugural Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. A 5-year-old son of Coronado’s Quest, Gottcha Gold won the grade III Skip Away at Gulfstream in March, and was second to Student Council in the grade I Pimlico Special in his last start. Eddie Plesa Jr. trains Gottcha Gold for owner-breeder Centaur Farms Inc.

Eddie Castro will pick up the mount on Gottcha Gold because Chuck Lopez, the horse’s regular rider, is sidelined with a fractured heel. Gottcha Gold turned in a sharp five-furlong move in 1:01.60 at Monmouth last Saturday. It was the sixth-fastest of 39 works at the distance.

Divisional Qualifying

Until the advent of the Breeders' Cup Challenge in 2007, qualifying for Breeders' Cup World Championships races, with a maximum of 14 starters, was limited to those horses that accumulated the seven highest number of Breeders' Cup Points earned through competition in American Graded Stakes races during the first 10 months of the year. The remaining seven horses were selected by the Breeders' Cup Racing Directors/Secretaries Panel.

This year, with the exception of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf, Juvenile Fillies Turf, and Dirt Mile, which are each limited to 12 starters, starting fields for each Breeders' Cup World Championships race will be determined in the following manner after Pre-Entries are received on Tuesday, October 14: (1) Breeders' Cup Challenge winners, who will earn a starting position in a corresponding Breeders' Cup divisional race. (2) The next horses will be ranked on the total number of Breeders' Cup Points collected during the year until seven horses have been ranked based on Breeders’ Cup Challenge races and Breeders' Cup Points. 3) The remaining seven horses will be ranked by the Racing Directors/Secretaries Panel.

There are six Breeders' Cup Challenge races for automatic starting positions in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Mile on turf; five for the $5 million Breeders' Classic; five for the $3 million Breeders’ Cup Turf; five for the $2 million Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf; four for the $2 million Ladies’ Classic; four for the $2 million Breeders' Cup Sprint; four for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile; four for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint; four for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf; four for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf; three for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint; three for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile; three for the $2 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies; and three for the $500,000 Breeders’ Cup Marathon.

On April 26, Good Ba Ba, a 6-year-old gelding, became the first horse to earn a
Breeders' Cup starting position through the International Breeders' Cup Challenge when he won the Champions Mile (G1) at Sha Tin Race Course in Hong Kong. Good Ba Ba, a Kentucky-bred, earned one of the six Breeders' Cup Challenge automatic spots in the Breeders’ Cup Mile.