Another active week of top-class racing is on the schedule for July 27-28, with one Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series “Win and You’re In” qualifier and several other important races on tap. On Saturday, Del Mar hosts the 79^th running of the $400,000 Bing Crosby Stakes, which offers an automatic berth to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint Nov. 2 back at Del Mar. 

Let’s take a look back at the Bing Crosby’s influence on the World Championships and how other upcoming races have impacted the event.

Bing Crosby Stakes

Where: Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, Del Mar, Calif.

When: Saturday, July 27

How to Watch: FanDuel TV

“Win and You’re In” for: Breeders’ Cup Sprint

Why it’s important: The Bing Crosby is the first stakes on the West Coast that offers an expenses-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. It gained significance on the road to the Breeders’ Cup in the early 1990s and has remained prominent ever since. Three horses have won the Bing Crosby and the Breeders’ Cup Sprint in the same calendar year – Thirty Slews (1992), Lit de Justice (1996), and Kona Gold (2000) – and quite a few more have hit the board in both races. One of those, Roy H, finished second in both the 2017 and 2018 editions of the Bing Crosby (to the same horse, Ransom the Moon), but then trained on to win back-to-back Breeders’ Cup Sprints and nab a couple of Eclipse Awards as well.

Best winner during the Breeders’ Cup era: Kona Gold takes the prize as a repeat winner of the Bing Crosby in 2000 and 2001 who, as noted above, also won the Breeders’ Cup Sprint in 2000. Trained by Bruce Headley, the gelding won 14 of 30 starts in his six-year career with seven runner-up finishes, with earnings of nearly $2.3 million. Kona Gold finished third in the Sprint in 1998 and second by a half-length in 1999 to Artax before winning the race by a half-length at Churchill Downs in 2000 and then finishing seventh in 2001 and fourth in 2002. Kona Gold received the Eclipse Award as champion sprinter for his 2000 campaign and compiled a record of 14 wins, seven seconds, two thirds, and earnings of nearly $2,293,384 in 30 career starts.

Last year’s winner: California-bred gelding The Chosen Vron took the Bing Crosby by a rallying head over Anarchist and then did not race for more than three months until starting in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, finishing fifth. The fan favorite has since won five consecutive races in his home state and is targeting a repeat bid in the Bing Crosby on Saturday.

Other weekend races:

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The Jim Dandy Stakes Presented by Mohegan Sun Saturday at Saratoga Race Course for 3-year-olds is that historic track’s prep race for its marquee event, the DraftKings Travers Stakes Aug. 24. No Jim Dandy winner has trained on to win the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic later during their sophomore campaign, but four did finish as runners-up: Louis Quatorze in 1996, Medaglia d’Oro in 2002, Flower Alley in 2005, and Bernardini in 2006.

Two sprint races at Saratoga – the Amsterdam Stakes for 3-year-olds Friday and the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap Saturday – have occasionally sent winners on to shine at the Breeders’ Cup. Caleb’s Posse won the 2011 Amsterdam and three starts later took the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, while Orientate, Speightstown, and Elite Power captured both the Vanderbilt and the Breeders’ Cup Sprint in 2002, 2004, and last year, respectively. Sunday’s Bowling Green Stakes on turf at the Spa is a prep for the Resorts World Casino Sword Dancer Stakes but has been influential on the World Championships in its own right, although only one horse has won the Bowling Green and the Breeders’ Cup Turf in the same year – champion Theatrical in 1987.

At Del Mar, the San Diego Handicap has become prominent over the past 15 years or so as an early barometer for West Coast dirt horses on the road to the Breeders’ Cup. Skywalker won the San Diego in 1986 and then posted an upset in the third-ever Breeders’ Cup Classic, but most of the crossover has happened more recently. Dakota Phone took the 2010 San Diego and trained on to win the Dirt Mile at odds of 37.70-1, while in 2017 Accelerate gave an early indication of his potential with a San Diego victory and would reach peak form a year later when he won the TVG Pacific Classic Stakes at Del Mar and then the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs.

Two more races held this weekend have sent winners on to capture a World Championships later in the same year. Richard Mandella-trained grass standout Kotashaan won the Eddie Read Stakes at Del Mar in 1993 three starts prior to winning the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita Park; the French-bred was voted Horse of the Year and champion turf horse for his season. (Mandella’s United won the Eddie Read in 2020 and 2021 and prior to that lost the 2019 Longines Turf by a head to another grass horse voted Horse of the Year, Bricks and Mortar.)

At Monmouth Park, two 3-year-old fillies won the Monmouth Oaks and subsequently won the Breeders’ Cup Distaff in the fall of the same year: Spain, who upset the 2000 Distaff at odds of 55.90-1 at Churchill Downs; and Unbridled Elaine, who posted a less-robust 12.30-1 upset a year later at Belmont Park, denying Spain’s repeat bid by a head.

Lastly, a major turf race overseas has had significant impact on the Breeders’ Cup in years past, although it was removed from the “Win and You’re In” series for 2024. The King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes Saturday at Ascot was part of the Challenge Series from 2011 through 2023, offering a berth to the Breeders’ Cup Turf, but even before that several winners trained on to shine in the World Championships. The trio of Daylami, Conduit, and Highland Reel won the King George and Breeders’ Cup Turf in the same year – 1999, 2009, and 2016, respectively – and in Conduit’s case he scored a repeat in the Turf after first winning in 2008.

Those horses take a backseat to the international superstar filly Enable as the best dual winners of the King George and BC Turf, however. Enable did not win both races in the same year, but overall captured three editions of the King George/Queen Elizabeth (in 2017, 2019, and 2020) and memorably won the 2018 Turf at Churchill Downs over Magical the only time she shipped to the U.S. to compete in the event. Enable also won two runnings of the prestigious Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in 2017 and 2018, and retired in fall 2020 with a record of 15 wins, two seconds, and one third in 19 starts, earning a shade over $14 million for owner-breeder Juddmonte and trainer John Gosden.

English and Irish Derby winner Auguste Rodin was favored in the 2023 King George but puzzlingly finished last of 10 for the Coolmore group and Aidan O’Brien. After a bounce-back win September in Ireland, he traveled to Santa Anita Park and rallied to take the Longines Turf by three-quarters of a length. Back for a 4-year-old campaign, the Deep Impact colt won the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot last month – a “Win and You’re In” qualifier for the Longines Turf – and is slated to start in Saturday’s King George, where he’s expected to face 2022 Longines BC Turf winner Rebel’s Romance. That veteran gelding is 3-for-3 so far this year, with stakes wins in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Hong Kong.