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Breeders’ Cup Locations: Keeneland in 2026, Belmont in 2027
Find the 2026 and 2027 Breeders’ Cup locations, every past host track and year, and why the venue matters when comparing racecard form.
The 2026 Breeders’ Cup World Championships will be held at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Kentucky, on October 30–31. The announced 2027 venue is Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, on October 29–30. Both locations and dates are confirmed in NYRA’s announcement.
The Breeders’ Cup has no permanent home. It uses selected host tracks, sometimes returning to the same venue in consecutive years. For a racecard reader, that means last year’s Breeders’ Cup form is not automatically form at this year’s course.
Current and next Breeders’ Cup locations
As of October 7, 2026:
- 2026 — Keeneland: This will be Keeneland’s fourth hosting, following 2015, 2020 and 2022, according to the track’s event page.
- 2027 — Belmont Park: It will be Belmont’s fifth hosting and its first since 2005. The official future-host page identifies the redeveloped Belmont Park as the venue.
These are the locations of the World Championships themselves, not the many tracks staging Breeders’ Cup Challenge qualifying races.
Every past host track, 1984–2025
Twelve different racetracks hosted the first 42 editions. The table groups each venue’s completed host years rather than repeating the same track in a long annual list. The scheduled 2026 and 2027 editions are excluded.
Host years follow the Breeders’ Cup’s official year-by-year archive; track locations are listed in its beginner’s guide.
| Host track | Location | Completed host years |
|---|---|---|
| Santa Anita Park | Arcadia, California | 1986, 1993, 2003, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2019, 2023 |
| Churchill Downs | Louisville, Kentucky | 1988, 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2018 |
| Belmont Park | Elmont, New York | 1990, 1995, 2001, 2005 |
| Del Mar | Del Mar, California | 2017, 2021, 2024, 2025 |
| Gulfstream Park | Hallandale Beach, Florida | 1989, 1992, 1999 |
| Hollywood Park | Inglewood, California | 1984, 1987, 1997 |
| Keeneland | Lexington, Kentucky | 2015, 2020, 2022 |
| Aqueduct Racetrack | New York City, New York | 1985 |
| Woodbine Racetrack | Toronto, Ontario, Canada | 1996 |
| Arlington International Racecourse | Arlington Heights, Illinois | 2002 |
| Lone Star Park | Grand Prairie, Texas | 2004 |
| Monmouth Park | Oceanport, New Jersey | 2007 |
Santa Anita leads with 11 completed hostings, followed by Churchill Downs with nine. Woodbine’s 1996 edition is the only one through 2025 held outside the United States. Hollywood Park and Arlington are historical venues, not current destinations for the event.
Why the location matters on a racecard
Course form means previous performance at the same racecourse, not previous performance in a race with the same name. A horse that ran well at the 2025 Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar has evidence of performance there; that run alone does not establish Keeneland course form.
The host change can also alter the distance of an individual championship race. For example:
- The 2025 Turf Sprint at Del Mar was 5 furlongs on turf.
- The official 2026 Keeneland schedule lists the Turf Sprint at 5½ furlongs on turf.
That is an extra half-furlong, or 110 yards. The race name and surface remain the same, but the distance and course do not. Treat the previous result as relevant sprint form—not an identical test—and do not compare raw finishing times as though both races covered the same trip.
When reading the card, check venue, surface, distance and track condition before interpreting the finishing position or performance figure. A previous win records what happened under those conditions; it does not guarantee that a horse will reproduce it at the next host track. Our racecard-reading guide explains how those fields fit together, while the Breeders’ Cup Classic guide covers that race’s conditions separately.