Churchill Downs will host the '18 Breeders' Cup, as the event will "return to the track that has attracted the championships' largest crowds and betting interest," according Jonathan Lintner of Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL. This will mark the first time the track will host the Breeders' Cup since '11. The track recently "transformed its sixth-floor press box into 'the Mansion,' built a courtyard area off the final turn and added the massive 'Big Board' along its back stretch." Churchill Downs this winter also completed $18M in renovations to a "number of its premium seating areas to be ready in time for the May 7 Kentucky Derby." Another factor in the track landing the event is the "sometimes frosty relationship between the Breeders' Cup and Churchill thawed." Santa Anita will host the event "for a record ninth time later this year," while Del Mar will host it in '17 (COURIER-JOURNAL.com, 4/25). In Lexington, Alicia Wincze Hughes notes the seven-year hiatus between hosting duties "is the longest Churchill Downs has gone without being part of the Breeders' Cup rotation since the event's inception" in '84. That absence had been "particularly notable considering the track holds the records" for the largest single-day (80,452 in '98) and two-day attendance (114,353 in '10) in Breeders’ Cup history, "as well for largest total handle," with $173.86M in '10 (KENTUCKY.com, 4/25). DAILY RACING FORM's Matt Hegarty notes Keeneland hosted the Breeders' Cup last year for the first time, and attendance "had to be capped" because of the small size of the grandstand and "strong demand for tickets." The Breeders' Cup also spent an "unprecedented amount of money on temporary seating areas." However, officials "viewed the event as an unqualified success." The selection of Churchill Downs means that New York "will have to wait" until at least '19 "to host the event again." Belmont Park hosted the '05 Breeders’ Cup, but officials since then "have been wary of tabbing the track for the event because of political and financial uncertainty" surrounding NYRA (DRF.com, 4/25).
