Giddy Up: Breeders' Cup Forming Fantasy Game For Challenge Series

By Eric Fisher, Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Journal

The Breeders' Cup today will launch a fantasy game centered on its 56-race Breeders' Cup Challenge Series, which begins July 5 at Monmouth Park in New Jersey. The effort, continuing an emerging push into horse racing fantasy games, carries a $10,000 top prize and is aimed at attracting more mainstream fans to the race series. Breeders' Cup officials are seeking a player pool of at least 25,000 people. “We think there’s a nexis here between the horse racing audience and those who are already playing fantasy sports online,” said Breeders' Cup CMO Peter Land. “There’s also clearly a heightened interest in horse racing among casual fans after what we saw this spring with Big Brown that we’d like to continue.” The fantasy game will be marketed on other sports sites including NBCSports.com, CBSSports.com and Yahoo Sports.