Breeding & Racing Magazine

Breeders' Cup May Move From Santa Anita To Churchill Downs

The on-going legal proceedings involving Magna Entertainment Corp's bankruptcy could force US Breeders' Cup organisers to move the 2009 championships (set for November 6-7) from the currently-contracted venue at Santa Anita Park in California to Churchill Downs in Kentucky, reported Daily Racing Form. Breeders' Cup officials have set a deadline of April 30 "for the issues to be resolved" & while lawyers representing Breeders' Cup, Magna & Magna's creditors have agreed "in principle" to a deal to leave the Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita even if the track is sold as part of the bankruptcy proceedings, that agreement is still waiting for approval from a bankruptcy court judge. Sherwood Chillingworth, executive director of the Oak Tree Racing Association (which holds the Breeders' Cup contract) commented: "Everyone's agreed to it & no one's opposed to it. It's hard to believe that if you have every party to an issue on board with it, that it won't get done. But a bankruptcy court is a world unto itself." And Breeders' Cup president Greg Avioli added: "It needs to get done in the very near future. We can't get very far beyond where we are now. We have contracts, hotel rooms, travel plans, a ton of logistics that can't be done until we know for sure."