The Bing Crosby Stakes winner will compete for an automatic spot in the Qatar Racing Breeders' Cup Sprint on Saturday night, and all eyes will be on Del Mar. The Challenge Series match will be broadcast live on TVG.
On Wednesday, July 27, another "Win and You're In" qualifier will take place in England in addition to the Bing Crosby.
In 2015, the Qatar Sussex Stakes was added to the Challenge Series, and the victor was guaranteed a spot in the FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile. As part of its yearly summer "Glorious Goodwood" meet, the one-mile turf race is contested at one of England's most gorgeous racetracks, Goodwood in West Sussex.
The following information includes specifics on the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series contests scheduled for this week, as well as several other noteworthy occasions that will affect the World Championships:
The six-furlong Bing Crosby Stakes was first held in 1946 and is named for the Hollywood star and co-founder of Del Mar.
Due to the dominance of East Coast sprinters at the World Championships in the 1980s, the race had little effect on the Breeders' Cup Sprint. That changed in 1992 when Thirty Slews defeated the filly Meafara to win the Bing Crosby in August and the Sprint at Gulfstream Park two races later, giving a young trainer called Bob Baffert his first Breeders' Cup victory.
Lit de Justice completed the Bing Crosby-Breeders' Cup Sprint double four years later by winning both events at Woodbine. With that triumph, Jenine Sahadi became the first female trainer to win a Breeders' Cup, and one year later, with Elmhurst, she won another Sprint trophy.
The legendary sprinter Kona Gold dominated the national scene. Bruce Headley trained and shared ownership of the gelding, which finished third in the 1998 Breeders' Cup Sprint, second the following year, and the first in the 2000 rematch at Churchill Downs. He also received sprinter champion accolades at the Eclipse Awards that year and won his first two consecutive Bing Crosby awards.
In the Breeders' Cup Sprint in 2004, Bing Crosby winner Kela came in second to champion Speightstown, while in the Sprints in 2008 and 2010, Bing Crosby winners Street Boss and Smiling Tiger both placed third.
Amazombie won the Breeders' Cup Sprint at Churchill Downs in 2011 by edging Force Freeze by a neck and the Bing Crosby the following year. Mike Smith was on board for both victories. Goldencents finished second in both the 2013 and 2014 Bing Crosbys but went on to win more significant rewards each fall, winning the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile in consecutive years. Another top-tier Bing Crosby runner also made his mark in a different Breeders' Cup competition.
The 2016 TwinSpires Breeders' Cup Sprint champion was expected to win the Bing Crosby in 2017.
Roy H, who finished second to Ransom the Moon in the Bing Crosby, then went on to win a Grade 1 race at Santa Anita Park before returning to Del Mar to defeat Imperial Hint by a length in the Sprint (Ransom the Moon finished fifth and Drefong sixth). In 2017, Roy H won the Eclipse Award for best male sprinter.
They were contested at Del Mar a little over three months after the World Championships the previous year.
Crack West Coast sprinter Dr. Schivel powered in the stretch to get up and win one of the most thrilling races of 2021, the Bing Crosby, by a neck. Schivel subsequently won the Santa Anita Sprint Championship in October to prepare for the Qatar Racing Sprint. He was started in the Sprint as the second post-time betting pick with 4.30-1 odds, trailing hot favorite Jackie's Warrior. Dr. Schivel nearly gave his backers a nice payout as he took control in the middle of the race and battled bravely with deep closer Aloha West in the closing stages. Still, In yet another thrilling climax, he lost by the slightest of margins.
The Qatar Sussex Stakes did not send a winner to the Breeders' Cup until 2018, when it changed from a "Win, and You're In" race in 2015. However, other winners from previous years have impacted the World Championships. They include the 1994 Sussex runner-up Barathea, who went on to win the Breeders' Cup Mile at Churchill Downs that year, and the 2000 Sussex victor Giant's Causeway, also known as "the Iron Horse," who came in second to Tiznow in the Breeders' Cup Classic that fall to become one of the most significant sires in North America so far this century before passing away in 2018.
In the Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita Park's synthetic main track in 2008, Sussex 1-2 finishers Henrythenavigator and Raven's Pass swapped those positions.
Over time, that race might serve as a defining symbol of a fleeting, now virtually forgotten, period in North American racing when primary tracks with artificial surfaces appeared to be the way of the future.
Here Comes When, the 2017 Sussex winner, did not travel over the Atlantic to Del Mar for the Breeders' Cup, but Ribchester, the race's second-place finisher, did. As the second betting choice at 7-2 in the Mile, he came in fifth place behind World Approval.
Lightning Spear defeated Expert Eye of Juddmonte Farms by a length and a half to win the Sussex in 2018. Both horses traveled to Louisville for the Breeders' Cup Mile. Still, at Churchill Downs, Expert Eye brought his best form overseas, outdueling Catapult by a narrow margin thanks to a late recovery under Frankie Dettori.
Circus Maximus, who placed second in the Sussex Stakes in 2019, placed second in the Sussex again in 2020, losing by three-quarters of a length to Mohaather in the TVG Breeders' Cup Mile at Santa Anita. In his second attempt at the Breeders' Cup Mile at Keeneland, the son of Galileo came close to pulling off an 11.30-1 upset until being beaten in the final jump by a long shot in the 14-horse field. Order of Australia triumphed in the Mile by a neck for owners Michael Tabor, Susan Magnier, Derrick Smith, Anne O'Brien, and trainer Aidan O'Brien at odds of 73.20-1. Along with Flaxman Holdings, Tabor, Magnier, and Smith owned Circus Maximus, which O'Brien trained.
The Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga for 3-year-olds is the traditional lead-up to the Runhappy Travers Stakes, but a few of its winners have gone on to win Breeders' Cup races (1996 winner Louis Quatorze finished second to Alphabet Soup in the Classic that year; '97 winner Awesome Again won the Classic; and '02, '05, and '06 winners Medaglia d'Oro, Flower Alley, and Bernard.
Will Take Charge, a late-blooming 3-year-old who won the Travers Stakes and Pennsylvania Derby in 2013, finished second in the Jim Dandy before losing by a nose to Mucho Macho Man in the Breeders' Cup Classic.
After placing third in the 2020 Jim Dandy, Jesus' Team finished second behind Knicks Go in the Big Ass Fans Dirt Mile. The following year, Tacitus, who finished second in the 2019 Jim Dandy, and Global Campaign, who finished third, placed fourth and third, respectively, in the 2020 Longines Breeders' Cup Classic, which was won by Authentic. In the Longines Classic at Del Mar, Essential Quality, the 2021 Jim Dandy winner and eventual champion 3-year-old male, finished a strong third behind Knicks Go.
The Amsterdam Stakes for 3-year-olds at Saratoga, which was won in 2011 by eventual Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile champion Caleb's Posse, and in 2016 by Mind Your Biscuits, who finished second in that year's Breeders' Cup Sprint, are two sprint stakes this weekend that has recently had an impact on the Breeders' Cup.
Orientate, a Breeders' Cup Sprint winner in 2002, and Speightstown, a Sprint winner in 2004, have both previously won the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap at Saratoga. Imperial Hint, a fan favorite, won consecutive Vanderbilts in 2018 and 2019 and placed third and second in the Sprint in 2017 and 2018, behind the Roy mentioned above H. Another fan favorite in the 2020 Vanderbilt, the dependable Whitmore, finished second to pacesetter Volatile after failing to capitalize on his regular late charge.
Three and a half months later, the gelding would reach the pinnacle of his career, winning the Sprint at Keeneland by three and a quarter lengths and earning the title of a champion male sprinter. Whitmore continued his training and placed third in the 2021 Vanderbilt, his last start before quitting racing.
The 1987 Longines Breeders' Cup Turf winner and champion Theatrical won the Bowling Green Stakes at the Spa, which has a history of overlapping with the Breeders' Cup for runners on turf. At the time, Belmont Park was the venue. The Bowling Green was won in 2016 by champion and two-time Longines Turf runner-up Flintshire. In the 2020 Bowling Green, Channel Maker was promoted to third via disqualification, giving him another on-the-board finish in addition to his Bowling Green victory in a close race in 2018.
The Bill Mott trainee finished in a respectable third place in the 2020 Longines Turf at Keeneland, following two subsequent victories in Grade 1 races. At the Eclipse Awards, he was chosen as the best turf male.
Several accomplished and well-known horses have won the San Diego Handicap at Del Mar over the years (as well as also-rans like Breeders' Cup winners Pleasantly Perfect and Bayakoa). As the primary training race for the TVG Pacific Classic at Del Mar near the conclusion of its summer meet, it has grown in significance as a race on the Breeders' Cup circuit.
The World Championships saw the first San Diego winner make a statement. California-based Skywalker, a son of Relaunch, won the San Diego in the summer of 1986. Three runs later, under Laffit Pincay Jr., he upset the Classic at Santa Anita at odds of 10.10-1, beating Turkoman and Precisionist, the top two betting favorites.
After winning the 2003 San Diego, Taste of Paradise came close to winning the Breeders' Cup Sprint two years later but lost by a head. Fast forward 24 years and Dakota Phone beat the 2010 San Diego before shocking everyone by winning the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Churchill Downs in a 37.70-1 upset three starts later.
Rail Trip took first place in the Dirt Mile and first place in San Diego in 2012, and the race's status has become more prominent in the following years. Before his five-length victory in the Pacific Classic in 2016, the great California Chrome won the San Diego Handicap. That same year, he was the favorite in the Breeders' Cup Classic but fell to another superstar, Arrogate.
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