Time for Trouble (English Channel) has been named as the 2023 Claiming Crown Horse of the Year, according to a joint announcement from the National Horsemen's Benevolent & Protective Association (NHBPA) and the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA), co-founders of the Claiming Crown.
A two-time winner of the Kent Stirling Memorial Iron Horse, the 7-year-old was selected as the Claiming Crown Horse of the Year from the eight winners during last year's event at the Fair Grounds. Time for Trouble was also victorious in the 2022 running at Churchill.
An $8,000 claim by trainer Jeff Hiles in June 2021, Time for Trouble has been effective on both turf and dirt, winning a muddy Oaklawn allowance on the heels of his Claiming Crown success this past January before finishing third in the GIII Essex H. Fourth in the GIII Ben Ali S. at Keeneland Apr. 20, he filled the same spot in last weekend's GII Suburban S. at Saratoga, finishing less than two lengths behind the victorious Crupi (Curlin).
“It's definitely a great achievement,” said the Louisville-based Hiles, who co-owns Time for Trouble with Thorndale Stable's Paul Parker of Paducah, KY. “We're going back in it this year, if he stays healthy. In order to do that, he's going to have to be on top of his game, because those races are difficult. He's been a really good horse for us. He just doesn't stop.”
The Claiming Crown Horse of the Year is voted on by the National HBPA's Industry Awards Committee chaired by Todd Mostoller, the Pennsylvania HBPA's executive director.
“Time for Trouble is a poster boy for how claiming horses, even at cheaper levels, can rise up to compete in racing's upper echelon with good horsemanship, a dream and some luck,” said Todd Mostoller, the executive director of the Pennsylvania HBPA who also chairs the National HBPA's Industry Awards Committee. “These horses give smaller stables the hope that they, too, can some day land the proverbial Big Horse.”
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