From a Charles Town release

The $500,000 West Virginia Breeders’ Classic will highlight a 9 race program worth a total of $1,280,000 in stakes purses when Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races hosts West Virginia Breeders’ Classics XXVIII on Saturday, October 18.  The $1,280,000 in purses for the 2014 edition of the West Virginia Breeders’ Classics represents a $125,000 increase over the purses available for the event in 2013.

As has been the case since West Virginia Breeders’ Classics founders Sam Huff and Carol Holden put on the inaugural event in 1987, the richest race on the card will be the West Virginia Breeders’ Classic for three-year-olds and up going 1 1/8 miles.  Originally run for $100,000 in 1987, the $500,000 Breeders’ Classic now stands as the country’s richest statebred contest.  Last year’s running was captured by Edward Krishack’s Fred High who bested a field that included 2012 race winner Lucy’s Bob Boy and Russell Road who had been victorious in the race in both 2009 and 2011.

Also similar to recent Breeders’ Classics cards is the return of the $200,000 West Virginia Jefferson Security Bank Cavada Breeders’ Classic as the top supporting stakes race on the program.  For fillies and mares three years old and up going Charles Town’s two-turn 7 furlong distance, the Cavada will be run for a purse of $200,000 or more for the eleventh consecutive year.

Four races – the West Virginia Breeder’s Classic Distaff, Division of Tourism Breeders’ Classic, Lottery Breeders’ Classic and Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association Onion Juice Breeders’ Classic – all received a purse bump of $20,000 to $85,000 for West Virginia Breeders’ Classics XXVIII.  The card will be rounded out by a trio of $80,000 stakes in the West Virginia Dash for Cash Breeders’ Classic, Triple Crown Nutrition Breeders’ Classic and Vincent Moscarelli Memorial Breeders’ Classic.  All three of those races received a purse hike of $15,000 over where they stood in 2013.

The full lineup of races for the 2014 West Virginia Breeders’ Classics will be:

  • $500,000 West Virginia Breeders’ Classic, 3&up, 1 1/8 miles
  • $200,000 West Virginia Jefferson Security Bank Cavada Breeders’ Classic, F&M 3&up, 7 furlongs
  • $85,000 West Virginia Breeders’ Classic Distaff, F&M 3&up, 1 1/8 miles
  • $85,000 West Virginia Division of Tourism Breeders’ Classic, F 3YO, 7 furlongs
  • $85,000 West Virginia Lottery Breeders’ Classic, 3YO, 7 furlongs
  • $85,000 West Virginia Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association Onion Juice Breeders’ Classic, 3&up, 7 furlongs
  • $80,000 West Virginia Dash for Cash Breeders’ Classic, 3&up, 4 1/2 furlongs
  • $80,000 West Virginia Triple Crown Nutrition Breeders’ Classic, F 2YO, 4 1/2 furlongs
  • $80,000 West Virginia Vincent Moscarelli Memorial Breeders’ Classic, 2YO, 6 1/2 furlongs

(Featured image, of last year’s Breeders’ Classic, by Coady Photography.)