The Breeders’ Cup announced today that it signed Harrah’s Resort Southern California as the presenting sponsor for its VIP Sweepstakes, which gives winning fans a trip to the world championship event and time interacting with celebrities, including chef Bobby Flay. Financial terms of the deal were not announced. Fans can sign up on the Breeders’ Cup website to win the experience at this year’s championships to be held at Del Mar on Nov. 3-4. The Breeders’ Cup launched the VIP Sweepstakes contest last year, when it was sponsored by America’s Best Racing. The new deal with Harrah’s Resort Southern California is a one-year deal. The contest gives fans the chance to win one of four experiences with Breeders’ Cup celebrity ambassadors, including a culinary experience hosted by Flay, a member of the Breeders’ Cup BOD and a horse owner. The other experiences include a behind-the-scenes horse racing experience with Triple Crown-winning trainer Bob Baffert and HOF jockey Mike Smith; a television experience on the set at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club with NBC's Mike Tirico, Randy Moss, Ed Olczyk and Jerry Bailey; and time on the Breeders’ Cup red carpet with a celebrity to be named later. Last year's event drew 111,000 unique entries, which Breeders' Cup VP/Digital Media & Marketing Justin McDonald said outperformed expectations for attracting new fans. "The interesting part for us was 98,000, which was 89% (of the 111,000) were new to our database," McDonald said. "We are hoping for double-digit growth, so we are hoping we will get up near the 150,000 mark (this year). That is our goal."
