The 2024-2025 South African Horse of the Year, Eight-on-Eighteen, is set to lead a star-studded lineup in Saturday’s King’s Plate (G1), part of an exciting three-race card for the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series at Hollywood Bets Kenilworth. This international series allows winners to secure an automatic starting spot and paid entry into the corresponding race at the 2026 Breeders’ Cup World Championship, scheduled for October 30-31 at Keeneland Racetrack in Lexington, Kentucky.
Winning the King’s Plate guarantees a spot in the $2 million FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1). The event also features the Paddock Stakes (G1), offering entry into the $2 million Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Mares Turf (G1), and the Cape Flying Championship (G1), a new 1,000-meter sprint race that qualifies winners for the $1 million Prevagen Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1).
Justin Snaith’s Eight on Eighteen, seeking his fifth King’s Plate title, boasts three Group 1 wins, including last year’s Cape Derby at Kenilworth and the Daily News 2000 at Greyville. The race will also spotlight last year’s South African Horse of the Year, Dave the King, trained by the father-son duo Mike and Matthew de Kock, who recently won the Ridgemont Green Point Stakes (G2) at Kenilworth. The De Kocks also have promising 3-year-old Jan van Goyen, fresh off his Cape Guineas (G1) win.
In the 1 1/8-mile Paddock Stakes for mares, defending champion Double Grand Slam returns under trainer Justin Snaith, along with Liet Petit, who has prevailed in three out of four races and recently won the Durbanville Stakes. The Cape Flying Championship will see Buffalo Storm Cody, winner of the July 28 Mercury Sprint (G1), aiming for a fourth consecutive win, and Constellation, who has claimed the last two races for the de Kock stable.
Additionally, a new Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series race will take place in South America on January 6th, where the winner of the one-mile Gran Premio Pedro Pinerua (G3) at Hipodromo Maronas, Uruguay, will earn a spot in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1). Notable contenders include defending champion Si Senor and Storm Sound, a winner of the Clasico Joaquin V. Gonzalez (G2) and runner-up in the Premio de las Americas OSAF (G1).
Breeders’ Cup offers substantial incentives, covering entry fees for all Challenge winners and providing travel allowances for competitors coming from outside North America. To benefit, winners must be nominated to the Breeders’ Cup program by the October 19, 2026, pre-entry deadline.
Fan Take: This lineup highlights the global nature and growing prestige of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series, bringing top talent from South Africa and South America to the world stage. For horse racing fans, it signals thrilling international competition and exciting new rivalries that will elevate the sport globally.
