Keeneland Race Course has been a treasured Thoroughbred Racing venue for many years —Keeneland celebrated its 90^th anniversary Oct. 15, 2026 — but for the first 30-plus years of the Breeders’ Cup the Lexington track had not hosted the World Championships.

That all changed with an announcement by Breeders’ Cup officials on June 24, 2014, when Keeneland was named a first-time host track for 2015. The success of the first Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland, as well as the first at Del Mar in 2017, led to the return of the event to the Lexington, Ky., track in 2020 and 2022. Heading into the fourth Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland Oct. 30-31, let’s relive at some of the best moments from the first three World Championships at the host track … and there were many!

2015 Breeders’ Cup (Oct. 30-31)

First Breeders' Cup at Keeneland a hot ticket (Eclipse Sportswire)

How much interest was there for the first Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland? Tickets went on sale March 4, 2015, and the public scooped up a record 60,000 tickets in just five hours for the two-day event. Even with significant hype as the hottest ticket in town, the event exceeded expectations.

The headliner for the inaugural Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland was no doubt Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, whose job got significantly easier leading up to the race when future Hall of Famer Beholder was scratched from the Breeders’ Cup Classic. American Pharoah completed the “Grand Slam” sweep of the Triple Crown races and the Classic with a 6 ½-length romp as the odds-on favorite to close his career with nine wins from 11 starts. American Pharoah was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame in 2021 and Beholder, who retired in 2016 with three Breeders’ Cup wins, joined him in 2022. NBC reported the highest television ratings for the Classic in 20 years.

Two other future Hall of Famers also won on Saturday’s card as Songbird dominated the Juvenile Fillies by 5 ¾ lengths to cap a championship campaign and Tepin defeated males by 2 ¼ lengths in the Breeders’ Cup Mile. Songbird would go on to win 13 of 15 career starts and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2023, while Tepin would win 13 of 23 starts, finish second in the 2016 Mile, and landed in the Hall of Fame in 2022.

The 2015 Breeders’ Cup truly was a remarkable event in terms of star power as Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Nyquist went on to capture the following year’s Kentucky Derby, 3-year-old filly Found upset Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Golden Horn in the Breeders’ Cup Turf, and dazzling sprinter Runhappy cemented an Eclipse Award with a victory in the Sprint. Nine horses who competed at the 2015 Breeders’ Cup took home Eclipse Awards in their division.

2020 Breeders’ Cup (Nov. 6-7)

It was the best of times … no, actually, it was the worst of times. The COVID-19 pandemic hung like a poisonous storm cloud over everything in 2020 and claimed millions of lives.

Major sporting events throughout the year were canceled, postponed, rescheduled, and modified due to the pandemic, and horse racing saw the first Kentucky Derby in September, a Preakness in October, and a much different Breeders’ Cup for the second event in Lexington.  The Breeders’ Cup Board of Directors that September announced that 2020 World Championships at Keeneland would be conducted without fans due to COVID-19 and also named Keeneland the 2022 host track on a quick turnaround.

While the circumstances surrounding the 2020 Breeders’ Cup were challenging to say the least, the athletes delivered on the racetrack. Kentucky Derby winner Authentic led from start to finish in his first start against older males to win the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic in a track record time of 1:59.60, cementing Eclipse Awards as both champion 3-year-old male and Horse of the Year.

A monumental upset in 2020 Mile. (Eclipse Sportswire)

Brad Cox equaled Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella with four wins at a single World Championships, taking the Juvenile Fillies Turf with Aunt Pearl and the Juvenile with Essential Quality on Future Stars Friday and the Dirt Mile with Knicks Go and the Distaff with Monomoy Girl on Saturday.

The event also featured a monumental upset as Order of Australia led home a 1-2-3 sweep by trainer Aidan O’Brien in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at 73.20-1 odds with stablemates Circus Maximus (11.30-1) and Lope Y Fernandez (18-1) finishing second and third, respectively. The $148.40 payout for a $2 win bet ranks behind only Arcangues ($269.20) in the 1993 Classic as the biggest upset in Breeders’ Cup history. The 2020 Breeders’ Cup Mile trifecta returned $4,393 for a 50-cent minimum bet and a $2 exacta paid $2,117.80!

2022 Breeders’ Cup (Nov. 4-5)

The 2022 Breeders’ Cup will forever be remembered as the coronation of the dazzling Flightline, who capped an undefeated career with an 8 ¼-length runaway victory in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic en route to Horse of the Year Honors.

Flightline romps in 2022 Breeders' Cup Classic (Eclipse Sportswire)

One of the fastest racehorses of the century, Flightline exceeded expectations in the marquee race of the World Championships.

But this Breeders’ Cup was far more than one horse taking flight in his career finale as there were myriad storylines coming out of Keeneland that November weekend, one of which was particularly inspiring.

European shippers dominated on the grass, winning six of the seven turf races of the 14 championship races, including three of owner-breeder Godolphin’s record-setting four wins at the event. In addition to winning the Juvenile Turf Sprint with Mischief Magic, the Breeders’ Cup Mile with Modern Games, and the Turf with Rebel’s Romance, Godolphin’s homebred Cody’s Wish delivered the feel-good moment of the year in horse racing when winning the Dirt Mile with namesake Cody Dorman in attendance.

Born with the genetic disorder Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome, Cody Dorman was unable to walk or talk but communicated through a tablet and loved watching horse racing with his family. During a Make-A-Wish Foundation visit to Gainsborough, farm manager Danny Mulvihill brought out Dance Card with her 5-month-old Curlin foal, a quiet and laid-back colt that he thought was the right fit for the meeting. The two connected instantly, and the Curlin colt subsequently was named Cody’s Wish. Their bond grew as the talented racehorse’s career progressed, capped by a second-consecutive Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile win the following year at Santa Anita Park. Tragically, Cody Dorman passed away after a medical event during the flight home from the West Coast after the 2023 Breeders’ Cup.