by Jeff Lowe

Breeders’ Cup Ltd. has been cleared to stage the World Championships as originally planned at Santa Anita Park on November 6 and 7.

On Wednesday, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware affirmed the Oak Tree Racing Association’s lease with Santa Anita through the end of 2009, assuring that Magna Entertainment Corp.’s bankruptcy proceedings would not interrupt North America’s richest day of racing at the Arcadia, California, racetrack.

“It’s great news,” Breeders’ Cup President Greg Avioli said.

Oak Tree hosted the World Championships for the fourth time last year. The event has never previously been to the same site for back-to-back editions. Churchill Downs had agreed to serve as the backup venue for 2009. The 2010 event is scheduled for Churchill.

“Together with our colleagues at Oak Tree and Santa Anita, we are very excited to showcase another outstanding Breeders’ Cup from Southern California to our fans and horsemen around the globe,” Avioli said. “We also want to take this opportunity to thank Bob Evans and the Churchill Downs organization for agreeing to serve as back-up host site for this year’s Championships, and we very much look forward to our return to Churchill Downs in 2010.”

Avioli said he does not expect any major changes to the World Championships format for 2009. He said some ticketing changes would be announced in a few weeks.

The company is currently developing a long-range strategic plan that will be presented to the Breeders’ Cup board of members and trustees in early July.

“I doubt we’ll have any formal announcement about it until the board has a chance to look at it,” Avioli said.

Jeff Lowe is a THOROUGHBRED TIMES staff writer