Claiming Crown

When trainer Tom Van Berg won two Claiming Crown races Saturday with his first horses in that series, most racing regulars made the connection to his father, the late Hall-of-Fame conditioner Jack Van Berg. But a link to another family legacy in that series might not have been as apparent: John Timothy Kirby, 25, who also saddled his first Claiming Crown starter to a victory in his first-ever race at Churchill Downs, is a third-generation horseman with strong roots that run deep in New England. In fact, after more than...

Trainer Mike Maker racked up his 20th and 21st Claiming Crown victories on Saturday, extending his lifetime lead among conditioners in that annual series by saddling Keystone Field (Candy Ride {Arg}) to a determined half-length win in the featured $175,000 Jewel. But while Maker's familiar presence in the winner's circle underscored his resilience in the event often described as the "blue-collar Breeders' Cup," a trainer taking his first crack at the Claiming Crown, Tom Van Berg, also registered two series victories and added a third on the undercard for a...

Trainer Mike Maker racked up his series-leading 19th career Claiming Crown victory, conditioner Saffie Joseph Jr. won three of the stakes conducted under starter-allowance conditions, and jockey Paco Lopez won five races overall on the Saturday card to kick off the championship meet at Gulfstream Park. The Claiming Crown began in 1999 as a blue-collar version of the Breeders' Cup to reward primarily older horses who compete in the types of races that form the backbone of day-to-day American racing. But oddly enough, it was a lightly-raced 3-year-old homebred who...

Frost Or Frippery (Lewis Michael--Samantha Mulder, by Lac Ouimet) has been named the 2020 Claiming Crown Horse of the Year by the Industry Awards Committee of the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA). The 8-year-old gelding will be honored at the 36th annual awards dinner held by the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA) Sept. 11 at Hill 'n' Dale Farm at Xalapa in Paris, Ky. Claimed for $20,000 by Brad Cox for Steve Landers Racing LLC last April, Frost Or Frippery went on a five-race win streak and...

Grupo 7C Racing Stable's Jesus' Team (Tapiture), second in the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. Jan. 23, breezed six furlongs in 1:14.45 at Palm Meadows Training Center Saturday morning, three weeks out from a scheduled to run in the $12-million G1 Dubai World Cup Mar. 27. "He went perfect, just like I wanted," trainer Jose D'Angelo said. "He was spectacular on the gallop-out, faster than he finished. I think we're going to have a great trip to Dubai with him. He'll have one more work, an easy seven furlongs...

The Week in Review, by T.D. Thornton Saturday's Claiming Crown races produced a three-way tie atop the North American leaderboard for winningest horse in terms of victories in 2020. Galerio (Jump Start), Frost Or Frippery (Lewis Michael) and Combination (Alternation) all enter the final three weeks of the year tied with eight wins apiece. How about scheduling a three-way invitational among these relatively matched geldings to settle the score prior to Dec. 31? The category of most victories in a season is annually overshadowed by the purse-earnings rankings, which are...

Short-money favorites getting class relief while dropping out of graded stakes company set the tone in the nine-race Claiming Crown (CC) series Saturday at Gulfstream Park. Luis Saez won six races overall (five in CC stakes), and trainer Mike Maker was one of nine separate trainers to hit the winner's circle in the CC races, posting his 18th career CC win to lead the series that began back in 1999 as a blue-collar version of the Breeders' Cup. Conducted under starter-allowance conditions pegged to previous-race claiming prices, the CC is...

The 22nd edition of the Claiming Crown, a nine-race event offering $835,000 in purses to the blue-collar horses that are the backbone of the Thoroughbred industry's day-to-day racing schedule, will return to Gulfstream Park for the ninth consecutive year Saturday, Dec. 5. Handle on the Claiming Crown has climbed each of the last eight years since being held at Gulfstream. The Claiming Crown is a partnership between the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA) and the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA). "The Claiming Crown from its inception has...