b'racingB ecKhefer While some US breeders initially took a chAd b. hArMonThe 2018 Breeders Cup at Churchill Downs drew a large European contingent. European runners historically have performed well in the events turf races.By BoB Ki wait and see approach to the event cham-Behold the $28 million Breederspioned by Kentuckian John Gaines, there Cup World Championshipsan epic,were 11 overseas entries for that one-day, two-day event that not only caps the USseven-race card in 1984. Notably, LashkariThe Breeders Cup racing season but also shapes the domesticbrought a relatively modest record across the racing schedule and commands the worldsAtlantic to win the inaugural Breeders Cupmanagementattention. Turf (G1T) for the Aga Khan, with Yves It was not always so. Saint-Martin in the irons for trainer Alain de Its tough to recall that in 1984 theRoyer Dupre. deserves much event was very much an experiment, withThe only other turf race on the 1984 plenty of doubters and an uncertain future.card, the Breeders Cup Mile (G1T), went tocredit for theBut one thing firmly in the corner of theRoyal Heroine. Although she had been in the infant Breeders Cup on that long-ago dayUnited States for a while, the Irish-bred fillyevolution of the at long-gone Hollywood Park was interna- had started in France and boasted a victory tional support. the previous year in the Prix de lOpera (G2)event.While most Americans focus on theat Longchamp in Paris.weekends crown jewel, the Breeders CupPamela Blatz-Murff and the Breeders Classic (G1), a good case can be made thatCup racing department were instrumental in alasTair dona l dthe turf races lent credence to the self- making those calls to international owners styled term World Championships byand trainers to try and convince them to driving international participation. bring their runners, said Dora Delgado, 54 08_BreedersCup.indd 54 3/21/19 2:50 PM'