From a Breeders’ Cup/NBC Sports release
The Breeders’ Cup and NBC Sports Group today announced the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series: Win and You’re In”™ television schedule featuring 18 of the best Challenge races leading to the World Championships from top racetracks across the United States. All races will be broadcast by NBC Sports Group and will be supported by an integrated marketing campaign.
The “Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series: Win and You’re In”™, now in its second year, consists of 10 telecasts on NBC and NBCSN and features 18 “Win And You’re In” races. Winners of these highly prestigious races, which offer more than $13 million in purses and awards, automatically qualify for a spot in the Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky. (Oct. 30-31).
Six of the 10 series telecasts will be broadcast on NBC and four will be televised on NBCSN.
The expanded NBC Sports partnership includes multiplatform rights to the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series races, which will also be featured on NBC’s digital and mobile applications.
“Our 2015 season with NBC Sports Group continues a very successful expanded network partnership with the Challenge series designed to showcase the highest quality races from some of the nation’s premier racetracks” said Craig Fravel, Breeders’ Cup President and CEO. “The broad exposure of the “Win and You’re In” series combined with our digital marketing initiatives give us a great opportunity to provide fans with a clear path to the Championships and enhance the Breeders’ Cup brand.”
Putting the spotlight on premier racetracks across the country, the 2015 television series begins with qualifying races on Belmont Stakes Day, June 6 from Belmont Park, in the Metropolitan Handicap and the Ogden Phipps.
The series continues the following Saturday evening, June 13, on NBCSN with the live telecast of the newest race to the televised series, the Stephen Foster Handicap from Churchill Downs. The 1 1/8 mile Foster will be the first of five televised automatic qualifiers for the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic, North America’s richest race, shown on the “Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series” this year.
In the summer, the series jumps from coast to coast with Classic qualifiers at Santa Anita for the Gold Cup and then back east to Monmouth Park for the William Hill Haskell Invitational, won by last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Bayern. In August, there will be three programs from historic Saratoga, including the Whitney, Travers Stakes and The Woodward. The series travels back to Belmont Park in the fall for The Jockey Club Gold, and concludes at this year’s Breeders’ Cup host site, Keeneland, for the Shadwell Turf Mile and Juddmonte Spinster Stakes, among others.
In addition, several NBC Sports Regional Networks will present replays of select races after their initial airings on NBC and NBCSN.
“We are excited to present our second series of Breeders’ Cup Challenge telecasts, which will help to build interest as we move from the Triple Crown races through the summer and on to the eagerly-anticipated Breeders’ Cup World Championships in the fall,” said Jon Miller, President of Programming for NBC and NBCSN.
Last November, Breeders’ Cup and NBC Sports Group announced a 10-year agreement in which the World Championships will be televised by NBC and NBCSN through 2025.
NBC Sports Group’s coverage of the Breeders’ Cup will be streamed on NBCSports.com and on the NBC Sports Live Extra app on mobile and tablet devices. The NBC Sports Live Extra app is available on the iTunes App Store, Google Play and Windows Store.
[su_box title=”Broadcast schedule” style=”glass”][su_list icon=”icon: check”]- June 6/Belmont Park — Metropolitan Mile, Ogden Phipps
- June 13/Churchill Downs — Stephen Foster, Fleur de Lis
- June 27/Santa Anita — Gold Cup at Santa Anita
- July 4/Belmont Park — Belmont Oaks, Suburban
- August 2/Monmouth Park — Haskell Invitational
- August 8/Saratoga — Whitney H., Test
- August 29/Saratoga — Travers, Sword Dancer
- September 5/Saratoga — Woodward, Spinaway
- October 3/Keeneland — Breeders’ Futurity, Shadwell Mile; Jockey Club Gold Cup from Belmont
- October 4/Keeneland — Dixiana Bourbon, Juddmonte Spinster
