TimeformBlog

Churchill Downs is located on Central Avenue in south Louisville, Kentucky, and is most famous for hosting the Kentucky Derby, but it is also the course which has hosted the Breeders' Cup meeting on the most occasions since its inception in 1984. Churchill Downs has already been home to the Breeders' Cup six times, most recently in 2006, and will host the event again in 2010.

All American courses are left-handed. The Churchill Downs dirt track is a one-mile oval with a chute in the back straight from which races over six/seven furlongs and a mile are started. The dirt track is relatively galloping, even though the home straight is a little under two furlongs. The turf course of only seven furlongs, situated inside the dirt track, is much sharper and places more emphasis on finishing speed and a handy position.

A low draw at Churchill Downs is an advantage in the two Juvenile races run on the dirt and usually plays a part in the Mile, in which the field has to negotiate a tight turn after the first furlong, though the last two runnings at the course have seen the winners emerge from stalls 11 and 10 respectively. The draw for the Sprint isn't as important as one would expect either - stall numbers 10, 9, 11, 3, 10 and 1 being the successful ones.

There have been eight European-trained successes at the track, and the last time the meeting was held at Churchill Downs, in 2006, long-shots were the order of the day as only two favourites won out of the eight Grade 1 races. The two European successes that year both came on the grass, Ed Dunlop's Ouija Board gaining a second Filly & Mare Turf and Red Rocks landing the Turf for Brian Meehan.

The significance of the 2006 results shouldn't be overlooked, as while the European's have enjoyed plenty of success at Santa Anita in the last two years, the non-turf races there were run on Pro-Ride, a surface comparable with polytrack in the UK, whereas at Churchill Downs, eight of the 14 races over the two days including the Classic will be run on dirt, an unforgiving surface that the Europeans have historically struggled with.

(read more at betting.betfair.com)