Four Named to Horse Racing Hall of Fame, Churchill to Host Breeders' Cup

The outstanding female racehorses Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta, both of whom were named Horse of the Year during their careers, along with jockey Ramon Dominguez and trainer Steve Asmussen -- who prepared Rachel Alexandra for her celebrated victories over males in the Preakness, Haskell, and Woodward -- make up the 2016 induction class to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, it was announced Monday.

Not landing in the top four was jockey Victor Espinoza, who last year won the Triple Crown aboard American Pharoah and is a three-time winner of the Kentucky Derby. There are 10 jockeys who have won the Derby three times. The other nine are in the Hall of Fame.

Under the Hall of Fame's rules, only the top four vote getters among the 10 finalists get in. That made this year's ballot particularly challenging for the 188-member voting panel since the list of candidates was particularly strong.

Rachel Alexandra, Zenyatta, Dominguez, and Asmussen outpolled six other finalists - Espinoza, fellow jockeys Garrett Gomez and Craig Perret, the horses English Channel and Kona Gold, and trainer David Whiteley. Voters were allowed to choose any combination of horses, jockeys, or trainers.

The induction ceremonies are scheduled for Aug. 12 in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., where the Hall of Fame is located.

Churchill Downs To Host Breeders' Cup

Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., has been selected to host the 2018 Breeders' Cup, officials for both companies announced Monday, a decision that will return the two-day event to the site that has generated the Breeders' Cup's highest attendance and handle figures.

Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby, has hosted the Breeders' Cup eight times in the past, as many times as Santa Anita Park in Southern California. The 2018 event has been scheduled for Nov. 2-3. The last time Churchill hosted the Breeders' Cup was in 2011, the second of back-to-back events there.

The two cards at Churchill Downs featuring the 2010 Breeders' Cup races drew $173.9 million in bets and a total of 114,353 spectators, records for a two-day Breeders' Cup. Record attendance of 80,452 for a one-day Breeders' Cup was set in 1998, when the event was at Churchill, and record one-day handle for the event of $140.3 million was set in 2006 at Churchill.

Though it has been five years since Churchill hosted the event, the Breeders' Cup was held in Kentucky last year at Keeneland in Lexington. Attendance had to be capped because of the small size of the Keeneland grandstand and strong demand for tickets, and the Breeders' Cup spent an unprecedented amount of money on temporary seating areas, but officials for the organization viewed the event as an unqualified success.

Churchill has been able to set ontrack records for the event due to the wide range of accommodations at its Louisville property, ranging from grandstand general admission to high-end luxury suites, and due to its proximity to central Kentucky, the economic and cultural cradle of U.S. horse racing. Handle on recent Breeders' Cup events at the track has also been aided by the addition of lights, which allows the Breeders' Cup to start its cards at a reasonable hour for West Coast bettors and push its cards into prime time on the East Coast.