IT’S BREEDERS CUP WEEK: Oprah Winfrey Will Feature “Oprah Winney” on Show

It’s time for the 2007 Breeders Cup…do you need a horse to be your favorite? Here’s a good place to start:

Mega-media star Oprah Winfrey will pay tribute to her (almost) equine namesake on Tuesday, October 23, when The Oprah Winfrey Show runs a segment on the New York filly sprinter “Oprah Winney”.

The segment is expected to include footage from Oprah Winney’s victory earlier this year in the Barbara Fritchie Handicap at Laurel Park as well as scenes from last year’s Breeders’ Cup World Championships.

Trained by New York’s Rick Dutrow, the filly is scheduled to start in the inaugural running of the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint on October 26 at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J. (ESPN2, 4:00-6:00 p.m., ET–Yes, that’s right, the Breeders Cup is now two days of racing, and the filly sprint is on Friday).

A web site for the filly launches Tuesday, too.

According to owner Michael Dubb, who purchased Oprah Winney with his partners after her second career start, the segment will include an interview with the woman who named the horse. That woman has a debilitating immune-system disease and, according to Dubb, named the horse “Oprah Winney” because she was inspired by Oprah Winfrey.

Also, Dubb said, ten percent of any money Oprah Winney earns in the race will be donated to the Anna House, the daycare center that Dubb helped build on the property of Belmont Park. Children of backstretch workers are the beneficiaries of the care and services offered by Anna House and the nonprofit Belmont Child Care Association.

Although no New York-bred horse has ever won a Breeders Cup race, Oprah Winney is by Royal Academy, a well-respected sire who won the Breeders Cup Mile in his day. And the filly has won over $300,000 in her short career. And trainer Dutrow has two Breeders Cup victories (both in 2005) to his stable’s credit.

Watch a little video on the filly (and the other Oprah) on her page at the NTRA/Breeders Cup site.

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