Monday's Met Mile Is First U.S. Breeders' Cup Challenge Race of 2012

NEW YORK (May 25, 2012) - Monday’s grade I Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park will be the first Breeders’ Cup Challenge race held in the U.S. this year. The winner of the Met Mile will earn an automatic starting position into the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at the Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Santa Anita Park, Nov. 2-3.

The Breeders’ Cup Challenge is a global series of 73 stakes races whose winners receive automatic starting berths into a corresponding race of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships.

The connections of the Met Mile winner will receive the following incentives regarding entry fees and travel expenses as a part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge series:

1) If the Met Mile winner is Breeders’ Cup-nominated or is nominated to the Breeders’ Cup program by Oct. 22, Breeders’ Cup will pay the $30,000 in entry fees for the Dirt Mile start.

2) If nominated by Oct. 22, the Breeders’ Cup will provide the stable of the Met Mile winner a $10,000 shipping/travel expense to start in the Championships.

3) If a Challenge race winner is Breeders’ Cup-nominated, the foal nominator or horse owner will receive a $10,000 breeder award.

The complete 2012 Breeders’ Cup Challenge series schedule may be found here: http://members.breederscup.com/challenge/schedule.aspx