Breeders' Cup adds three new races for '08

Breeders' Cup officials apparently liked the idea of the three new races on Friday so much that they decided to double it for the next Cup on Oct. 24-25 at Saint Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif. So, there will be six races on Friday and eight on Saturday with total purses of $25.5 million.

The new races are a $1 million Turf Sprint for 3-year-olds and up at 6 1/2 furlongs, a $1 million grass race for 2-year-old fillies at 1 mile and a $500,000 Dirt Marathon for 3-year-olds and up at a mile and a half.

The grass dash figures to be an opportunity for Smart Enough, bred by the late Fitz Dixon. The 4-year-old gelding, trained at Fair Hill by Doc Fisher, won the $200,000 Turf Monster on Pa. Derby Day at Philadelphia Park as well as seven other grass stakes in a career that has seen him earn $647,543. The race will be run on Santa Anita's famous El Camino Real course which starts at the top of a hill and has the horses run downhill before making the bend on the way to the homestretch.

Friday Cup racing debuted this year at Monmouth Park with the Dirt Mile, a filly and mare sprint and a 2-year-old open grass race, all worth $1 million. Six of the eight Saturday races are worth $2 million with the day anchored by the $3 million Turf at a mile and a half and the $5 million Classic at mile and a quarter.

This latest expansion probably will be it for a while as there really are no more divisions or constituencies that need to be included. *