Breeders Crown Back To A 2 Day Event

[pezz97]

 

The 2014 Breeders Crown at the Meadowlands Racetrack will be raced over two nights in November.

The year-end championships will be divided into a four-race block of distaff races on Friday, Nov. 21 and the remaining eight championship races will be held Saturday, Nov. 22.

The $500,000 Breeders Crown Trot and Pace for three-year-old fillies, and a pair of $250,000 ‘Crowns’ for mare pacers and trotters will be raced on Friday night. All four $500,000 two-year-old events, the $500,000 sophomore colt pace and trot and the $400,000 crown pace and $500,000 crown trot will be raced on Saturday night.

“We are very proud to bring the Breeders Crown back to the Meadowlands,” said Meadowlands Chairman Jeff Gural. “Expanding the event to two nights is something I am very excited about. It creates a weekend of championship racing and gives us an opportunity to be very innovative with new kinds of wagers, promotions and an opportunity to make the Breeders Crown experience even better for our customers.

“The new facility at Meadowlands Racing & Entertainment offers excellent dining options including ‘Pink,’ featuring the highest quality of food, and ‘Trotters,’ an owners’ club, where owners of horses racing in the Breeders Crown can enjoy elegant dining in a wonderful atmosphere while watching their horses compete,” continued Gural.

“Many will take advantage of our luxurious sky box suites to watch the races. In addition, fans will be able to enjoy the Breeders Crown in high-definition at the Meadowlands and can watch the championship races on massive 12 by 20 foot high-definition screens in Victory Sports Bar. This will be a Breeders Crown experience unlike any other.”

Tom Charters, president of the Hambletonian Society, which owns and administrates the Breeders Crown series, is familiar with the demands of staging the event at rotating host tracks, as well as the society’s flexibility in presenting the event.

“The Breeders Crown has been conducted in just about every format – single races, blocks of races, all 12 races on one night – and we try always to be sensitive to host track parameters while still getting the most ‘bang’ out of the event in regard to publicity, TV and promotions,” said Charters.

“The Meadowlands Racetrack has been home to many of harness racing’s most important events over the past 30 years,” continued Charters. “We look forward to the return of the Breeders Crown under Jeff Gural's management and especially look forward to the new facility. The horsemen of New Jersey and the SBOA of NJ realize the importance of stakes racing in maintaining the profile of the New Meadowlands and have always been supportive of our efforts.”

The one-mile oval in East Rutherford, New Jersey, has hosted 67 Breeders Crown races – more than any other racetrack – and in 2014 will celebrate 30 years of Breeders Crown history. The Breeders Crown series has crowned champions in every division for trotters and pacers and has been the deciding factor in Horse of the Year honours since 1984. More than $164 million in purse money has been disbursed over 346 events.

(Breeders Crown/Hambletonian Society)

[Yeah Baby]

Very nice, it was a long long day last year...

[Gazoo]

Rooms are already booked    now lets hope the Steelers or Bears are in town that sunday .......

[pezz97]

Rooms are already booked    now lets hope the Steelers or Bears are in town that sunday .......

[The Giss]

Looking for input on a possible column- what would you like to see on the undercard, either night/or both nights. Is there a chance to make this a true festival of the sport?

[tonyb147]

Looking for input on a possible column- what would you like to see on the undercard, either night/or both nights. Is there a chance to make this a true festival of the sport?

This one is a no-brainer, but I'm biased because I thought of it: 

Create four special Invitational Races, one for each 3yr old class (male/female, pace/trot)

Invite the division state-bred champion horse from each state to race on the undercard. One horse each from New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Ontario, and Kentucky. (add  states I'm missing)

Promote this as a Battle of the States or something like that. We'll give Ontario honorary statehood for the sake of this series. I can hear Sam McKee now "Now stepping onto the track from the great state of Indiana, #1 xxxxxxxxx, #2 is the Ohio champion with 14 wins blah blah blah......."

Determine invited horses by using races or series already in place (Ontario Gold champion, Illinois could use the Super Night winners, high money earner in pre-determined races, etc). Create a small nominating fee to be used towards a decent purse. Horses that drop in the box for the actual Breeders Crown would not be eligible. Handicap post positions if needed. Lots of other minor details that could be worked out.

It might not even be too late to gets this going this year. I might even attend if Yeah Baby is buying Coors Light all night.