How much money will the winners of the biggest Breeders' Cup races receive?

Christopher Leach, Lexington Herald-Leader on Oct 29, 2026

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Millions of dollars will be handed out in prize money at the 2026 Breeders’ Cup taking place in Lexington on Friday and Saturday.

There are 14 world championship races spread out across two days, with each race featuring unique circumstances, such as age, sex, distance, race surface and prize purse. The first day’s races primarily feature 2-year-old thoroughbreds, while the second day of racing features thoroughbreds 3 years or older.

This will be the fourth time Lexington has hosted the two-day world championships. The previous editions at Keeneland took place in 2015, 2020 and 2022.

More than $34 million in purses and awards will be on offer at this year’s Breeders’ Cup. Winnings are paid out to owners, stallion nominators and foal nominators.

How much money does an owner get for winning a race?

Only the top 10 owners from each race will receive prize money. Every race is capped at 14 horses, except the turf sprint and juvenile turf sprint, which is capped at 12.

The winning owner of each race will receive 52% of the race’s prize purse. Second place will receive 17%; third place will receive 9%; fourth place will receive 5%; fifth place will receive 3%; sixth place will receive 2% and seventh through tenth place will receive 1% each.

The other 8% of the prize purse is reserved for travel awards. Domestic horses from outside of Kentucky will receive $10,000, while horses from countries outside of North America will receive $40,000.

Foal nominators will receive an award if a horse they nominated starts a race. Stallion nominators will receive an award if their horse finishes in the top four.

What are some of the races with the biggest prize purses?

The headliner of the Breeders’ Cup is the Grade 1, $7 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic. The race will cover 1 1/4 miles across Keeneland’s dirt track, with post time scheduled for 6:16 p.m. Saturday.

The winning owner of the Classic will receive 52% of the prize purse, which comes out to $3.6 million. Second place will win $1.2 million while third place will win $630,000.

Any horse finishing in the top 10 of the Classic will win at least $70,000.

Eight horses are currently entered in the Classic, with Japan’s Forever Young having the best odds at 2-1. Kentucky Derby winners Sovereignty (5-2) and Golden Tempo (5-1) are also entered in the race.

The co-headliner of the Breeders’ Cup is Grade 1, $5 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf. The winning owner will receive $2.6 million for the victory, while the second and third place finishers will take home $850,000 and $450,000, respectively.

Ireland’s Diamond Necklace (3-1) comes into the race as the favorite, followed by Great Britain’s Bay City Roller (5-1) and Ireland’s Benvenuto Cellini (6-1). The race will cover 1 1/2 miles on Keeneland’s grass track, with post time scheduled for 5:36 p.m.

Six other races — the Longines Distaff, FanDuel Mile, Cygames Sprint, Maker’s Mark Filly & Mare Turf, FanDuel Juvenile and Juvenile Fillies — will feature a $2 million prize purse. Winning owners will receive just over $1 million for victory.