Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile
| Grade I race | |
| Location | United States |
|---|---|
| Inaugurated | 2007 |
| Race type | Thoroughbred - Flat racing |
| Website | breederscup |
| Race information | |
| Distance | One mile (8 furlongs) |
| Surface | Dirt |
| Track | left-handed |
| Qualification | Three-years-old & up |
| Weight | Weight for Age |
| Purse | US$1,000,000 |
The Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile is a 1-mile (1.6 km) Weight for Age stakes race for thoroughbred racehorses three years old and up. As its name implies, it is part of the Breeders' Cup World Championships, the de facto year-end championship for North American thoroughbred racing, and is run on a dirt course (either natural dirt or a synthetic surface such as Polytrack). This contrasts with the similar Breeders' Cup Mile, run on grass. All Breeders' Cups to date have been conducted in the United States, with the exception of the 1996 event in Canada.
The race was run for the first time in 2007 during the first day of the expanded Breeders' Cup at that year's host track, Monmouth Park Racetrack in Oceanport, New Jersey. It became a Grade I event in 2009.
Occasionally, various track configurations require minor changes in the distance of the race. The 2007 race at Monmouth Park was held at a distance of 1 mile 70 yards (1673 m) instead of the normal distance of 1-mile (1.6 km). The 2015 Breeders' Cup was held at Keeneland, which does not regularly hold 1–mile dirt races. To get the proper distance, the starting gate was set 70 yards (64 m) in front of the one-mile pole, where the timer would start, and the finishing line was set at the track's alternate finish line at the 1⁄16 mile pole. Thus the race was slightly longer than a mile for the horses.
Beginning in 2007, the Breeders' Cup developed "The Breeders' Cup Challenge," a series of races in each division that allotted automatic qualifying bids to the winners of defined races. Each of the thirteen divisions has between two and twelve of these "Win and You're In" qualifying races.
In the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile division, the number of runners is limited to 12 with two automatic berths. The current "Win and You're In" races are:
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