Breeders' Cup World Championships Betting Guide

Updated: 1229 Horse Racing

We look ahead to the Breeders' Cup World Championships Betting Guide looking at trainer and jockey records over previous years, the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series and links to each race blog.

Breeders' Cup World Championships Betting Guide
Andy Powell Content Editor

Horse Racing stats man, Andy has contributed to OLBG for 18 years - An Ipswich fan and F1 fanatic, he also contributes EFL football and Motor Sport opinion.

2024 Breeders' Cup World Championships

The 2024 Breeders' Cup World Championships will take place at the Del Mar racetrack in Del Mar, California where there will be a total of fourteen championship races, thirteen of which are Grade 1 races with the recently added Juvenile Turf Sprint the only Grade 2 race on the card. It will take place over two days with the Juveniles on show on Friday 1st November and the other races on Saturday 2nd November and we will have all fourteen races covered in individual blogs to give you a helping hand!

The Santa Anita Breeders' Cup will be the 41st edition of the Breeders' Cup World Championships and will be the third time it has been held at the Del Mar Racetrack where it will also be hosted in 2025. The meeting highlight is the Classic, a race that carries a purse of $6m, be sure to head over to the Breeders Cup Classic Preview before the running of the races to see which runners score well on the trends.

Remember to head over to the Breeders Cup Picks page to see which runners the OLBG tipsters are backing over the two days of action, use the breeders' cup trends below and the individual race trends on the links below along with the OLBG tipster's picks to find a bet in each breeders cup race.

OLBG Breeders' Cup Tipster Competition

Want to compete in our very own Breeders' Cup tipster competition which is completely FREE to enter and you could win a cash prize? More information will be released closer to the event.

2024 Breeders' Cup Schedule

Below you can find the 2024 Breeders' Cup schedule with links to each race blog, these blogs include a preview for the race, trainer and jockey statistics plus trends and analysis for each race.

The Friday (1st November) is dedicated to the younger runners with five juvenile races.

On Saturday (2nd November), the older runners are on show with nine Grade 1 races.

2024 Breeders' Cup Challenge series

Throughout the 2024 season, there are certain races with a 'Win and You're In' status meaning the runners who win those races get an automatic berth into the race at the Breeders' Cup. Each race at the Breeders Cup' has a limit of fourteen runners who can compete in the race except for both the Juvenile Turf Sprint and Turf Sprint in which only twelve can compete in the race.

The Breeders' Cup Challenge Series is a great way for European runners to get their way into some of the Breeders' Cup races, there are thirteen races in England alone that are part of the series, there are also seven in France and five in Ireland so a total of twenty-five races in Europe where runners can guarantee a spot at the Breeders' Cup.

In addition, there are five races from South America, two from Argentina, and then one in Brazil, Chile and Peru. The final six races made up outside of the US are four from Japan and two from South Africa. In the US and Canada, there are a total of forty-six races making up the Challenge Series.

Number of Winners by Country Since 2014

  • USA (97 Winners)
  • GB (16 Winners)
  • IRE (12 Winners)
  • CAN (7 Winners)
  • FR (2 Winners)
  • JPN (2 Winners)

Breeders' Cup Challenge Series in England

Four of the thirteen races come at Royal Ascot, the Queen Anne winner receives a spot in the Mile, the Prince of Wales's Stakes winner gets a spot in the Turf, and the Norfolk Stakes winner gets the chance to race in the Juvenile Turf Sprint whilst the Kings Stand winner gets an entry into the Turf Sprint, additional, at Ascot, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes winner, as well as the Champions Stakes winner, have the chance to compete in the Turf race along with the Prince of Wales's Stakes winner whilst the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes winner could join the Queen Anne winner in the Mile.

The winner of the Sussex Stakes which takes place at Glorious Goodwood receives an entry in the Mile whilst three winners at the York Ebor Festival will receive entries, the winner of the Juddmonte International goes into the main event, the Breeders' Cup Classic, the Yorkshire Oaks winner into the Filly & Mare Turf and the Nunthorpe winner into the Turf Sprint. The Cambridgeshire meeting at Newmarket filled the final two spots, both for two-year-old runners, the Rockfel winner receives an entry in the Juvenile Fillies Turf and the Royal Lodge winner into the Juvenile Turf.

  • Kings Stand Stakes > Turf Sprint
  • Queen Anne Stakes > Mile
  • Prince of Wales's Stakes > Turf
  • Norfolk Stakes > Juvenile Turf Sprint
  • King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes > Turf
  • Sussex Stakes > Mile
  • Juddmonte International > Classic
  • Yorkshire Oaks > Filly & Mare Turf
  • Nunthorpe Stakes > Turf Sprint
  • Rockfel Stakes > Juvenile Fillies Turf
  • Royal Lodge Stakes > Juvenile Turf
  • Champion Stakes > Turf
  • Queen Elizabeth II Stakes > Mile

Breeders' Cup Challenge Series in Ireland

There are five races in Ireland which are part of the series, three at Leopardstown and two at the Curragh, at Leopardstown, the Juvenile Stakes winner goes into the Juvenile Turf, the Matron Stakes winner into the Filly & Mare Turf and the Irish Champion Stakes winner into the Turf whilst over at the Curragh, the Moyglare Stud Stakes winner gets an entry into the Juvenile Fillies Turf and the Flying Five Stakes winner into the Turf Sprint.

  • Juvenile Stakes > Juvenile Turf
  • Matron Stakes > Filly & Mare Turf
  • Irish Champion Stakes > Turf
  • Moyglare Stud Stakes > Juvenile Fillies Turf
  • Flying Five Stakes > Turf Sprint

Breeders' Cup Challenge Series in France

Rounding off the qualifying races in Europe are seven races in France, five of which take place at Longchamp during the Arc festival before there are two at Deauville in August, the Prix Jacques Le Marois in which the winner receives an automatic spot in the Mile whilst the Prix Morny winner gets into the Juvenile Turf Sprint. Then in October, we have the five races at Longchamp, all of which will serve as a prep run for the breeders' cup because of the closeness of the two meetings.

The Prix de l'Abbaye de Longchamp winner goes to the Turf Spring, the Prix de l'Opera into the Filly & Mare Turf, the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere into the Juvenile Turf, the Prix Marcel Boussac into the Juvenile Fillies Turf whilst the winner of the feature race at Longchamp, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe goes into the Turf.

  • Prix Jacques Le Marois > Mile
  • Prix Morny > Juvenile Turf Sprint
  • Prix de l'Abbaye de Longchamp > Turf Sprint
  • Prix de l'Opéra > Filly & Mare Turf
  • Prix Jean-Luc Lagardère > Juvenile Turf
  • Prix Marcel Boussac > Juvenile Fillies Turf
  • Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe > Turf

Breeders' Cup Trainer Records since 2014

Here are the top trainers since 2014 in terms of winners for current races only, Chad Brown leads the way with sixteen winners from both Brad H. Cox & Aidan O'Brien who have ten winners, whilst Charlie Appleby is just one behind Aidan with nine winners. Charlie Appleby has had an excellent return at the Breeders' Cup, his nine winners have come from an incredible nineteen runners, which is a 47% success rate!

TrainerR-W-PWinEW
Chad C Brown115-16-38-4.74-10.33
A P OBrien89-10-30-6.67-10.57
Brad H Cox38-10-13+35.96+12.76
Charlie Appleby19-9-12+28.14+15.50
Todd Pletcher70-8-19-16.91-17.27
Bob Baffert63-8-24-33.73-25.12
Mark Casse50-6-13+3.75-6.19
William Mott49-6-14+7.21+0.49
Wesley A Ward44-6-15-19.10-9.92
Peter Miller30-5-11+44.00+37.65

Who are the Profitable Breeders' Cup Trainers?

Looking at the list above, backing all of the trainer's runners would have returned a profit for only five of the top ten trainers, Brad H Cox for a profit of +35.96, Charlie Appleby who shows an impressive +28.14 LSP from just 19 runners, William Mott (+7.21) and Mark Casse (+3.75) both show small profits whilst Peter Miller shows an LSP of +44.00.

Turf vs Dirt

The races are split into seven on the dirt and seven on the turf, do the trainers prefer one surface over the other? You would expect the European trainers to show better figures on the turf and that is true, all ten of Aidan O'Brien's and all nine of Charlie Appleby's winners have come on the turf and when you list the trainers by the number of winners over the past ten years in the turf races then along with Aidan and Charlie, Sir Michael Stoute (2) also makes the top ten trainers list. Another name to take note of on the turf is Chad Brown, the leading trainer with sixteen winners, twelve of those winners have come in races on the turf! The leading trainer on dirt is Brad H. Cox with eight wins over the last ten years with Bob Baffert (7-55) & Todd Pletcher (6-40) next best.

Breeders' Cup Jockey Records since 2014

Irad Ortiz Jr who has ridden twenty winners over the last ten Breeders' Cup meetings retains his position at the top of the list and is seven winners clear of Joel Rosario who has ridden thirteen winners. The top Europeans are Ryan Moore and William Buick who have both ridden eight winners.

JockeyR-W-PWinEW
Irad Ortiz Jr97-20-34+83.62+37.46
Joel Rosario101-13-36+33.13+20.04
Javier Castellano76-9-25-9.00+7.44
John R Velazquez94-8-24-42.83-35.13
Ryan Moore70-8-25-33.17-23.35
Florent Geroux42-8-11+22.55+2.62
William Buick24-8-13+16.18+9.58
Mike E Smith51-7-17+4.48+8.17
Flavien Prat84-5-26+4.04+14.80
Jose L Ortiz82-5-23-31.30-14.19

Who are the Profitable Breeders' Cup Jockeys?

The amazing fact is, had you backed all the rides of the top two jockeys over the last ten years, you would be showing a profit of +116.75 to LSP as both are showing a profit! Ortiz Jr with a profit of +83.62 and Rosario with +33.13.

Turf vs Dirt

Like with the trainers, we have looked at rides on the dirt vs rides on the turf to see if certain jockeys perform better on either of the surfaces, Joel Rosario seems to favour the races on the dirt where nine of his thirteen winners have come, on the turf he has notched up fours wins but that is from fifty-four rides, a 7% strike rate. The leading jockey over the last ten years for the races on turf is Irad Ortiz Jr who has ridden nine winners, he has twenty overall so his turf/dirt split is not too far off being equal with 11/9 in the dirt favour and ranks in the top on both surfaces. Both Ryan Moore (8) and William Buick (8) make the top three jockey list on the turf.

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