Racing’s blue-collar horses get their chance to sparkle, and horseplayers have big fields to pan for shiny scores as the Claiming Crown returns to Churchill Downs on Saturday.
The Claiming Crown, inaugurated in 1999 in partnership between the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association and the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, serves as a showcase for the modest horses who make up the majority of daily races around the country. It provides a “big day” experience for their owners.
This is the third time Churchill has hosted the program of eight races with starter-allowance conditions, which are carded as races 4 through 11. There are 121 entries across the races, for an average overflow field size of 15.1. Total purses are $1.1 million
“They’re all tough. They’re good handicapping races,” trainer Saffie Joseph Jr., who has three entrants on the program, told track publicity. “They’re like Breeders’ Cup races, just not at that level. But, definitely, it’s a great thing. Even though we have stakes horses, we enjoy having Claiming Crown horses. It gives everybody a chance to have a horse on the big day.”
The Claiming Crown Jewel, a 1 1/8-mile dirt race, is for 3-year-olds and up who have started for a claiming price of $35,000 or less in 2024 or 2025. Showing the nationwide appeal of the program, the 14 horses in the main body of the field have made their most recent starts at eight different tracks: Churchill, Keeneland, and Ellis Park in Kentucky, but also Aqueduct, Delaware Park, Horseshoe Indianapolis, Parx, and Prairie Meadows.
Among those who have performed well locally, Bernin Hot is coming off a 1 1/8-mile allowance win on Sept. 18 at Churchill, defeating Resilience, winner of the Grade 2 Wood Memorial in 2024. Bernin Hot, who should be part of a contested pace, has won three of his last four, with the gelding’s only loss coming in August at Colonial Downs to Cadet Corps, whom he faces again Saturday.
Welaka stretches back out after winning at a one-turn mile in September at Churchill, defeating Jewel entrants Alternate Reality and Dance Some Mo. Since moving to Joseph’s barn after a private purchase, Navajo Warrior has won both his starts, including an allowance on Sept. 25 at Churchill at 1 1/16 miles. The closing style he used that day should serve him well in this lineup.
“We ran him last time in the allowance there, trying to plan backward from the Claiming Crown,” Joseph said. “He drew a little wide, but Irad [Ortiz] is very good about working out a trip. We feel the horse could develop into a stakes horse, and we’re going to use the Claiming Crown on that path.”
Point Dunne will be part of the pace setup. He has won back-to-back races on the Mid-Atlantic circuit, most recently the M.P. Ballezzi Appreciation Mile at Parx.
Time for Trouble eyes record
One of the stalwarts on this program is Time for Trouble, who goes for his third victory in the $100,000 Claiming Crown Iron Horse Kent Stirling Memorial at 1 1/6 miles on dirt.
The 8-year-old gelding won this race in 2022 at Churchill and doubled up in 2023 at Fair Grounds before missing last year’s edition. No horse has won three Claiming Crown events. The others who have won two are Al’s Dearly Bred, who won the Emerald in 2001 and again five years later; Royal Posse, who won the Jewel in 2015 and 2016; and Antrim County, who won the 2008 Iron Horse and 2009 Jewel.
“He’s a horse you don’t have to do a lot with to keep fit,” trainer and co-owner Jeff Hiles said. “Not really a break between races, but we were kind of sitting on him, lightly training him until the last few works. Now we’ve set him down and he’s doing really well. This has been our target all year.”
Time for Trouble has made 10 of his last 12 starts in stakes, with three stakes placings – including a third in the Grade 3 Essex last year at Oaklawn Park behind First Mission. He most recently was a closing sixth in a turf allowance at Kentucky Downs.
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Warhorses battle in sprint
The $100,000 Claiming Crown Ready’s Rocket Express, a six-furlong dirt sprint, is named for one of the winningest horses in recorded Churchill history. Ready’s Rocket scored 11 wins at Churchill, all at the claiming or starter-allowance levels. His record for wins was broken last year by Bango, who was recently retired.
In a career spanning 2005 to 2012, Ready’s Rocket won 20 of 74 starts. It’s fitting, then, that the field for this year’s Ready’s Rocket has drawn a number of warhorses with 10 or more victories, some over the course of similarly lengthy careers. Alphabetically, they are Concrete Glory (16 wins from 28 career starts), Raymond (10 for 26), Sharp Warning (18 for 69), Spotted Bull (11 for 77), Tap in Formation (10 for 29), and Wound Up (10 for 22).
Concrete Glory was a front-running, 7 1/2-length winner of the 2024 Ready’s Rocket. This year, he has ventured into stakes, with a runner-up effort in the Gulfstream Park Sprint. Draw a line through his non-effort in the Grade 3 Maryland Sprint, when he was pulled up after a disastrous start. Wearing an extended blinker on his right eye, he had his head turned to the left at the start and never made contact with the field.
“He couldn’t even see the gates were open,” trainer Joseph said. “After that, we took off the extended blinker so it wouldn’t happen again.”
Concrete Glory set a torrid half-mile pace of 44.72 seconds en route to finishing seventh in the Grade 3 True North at Saratoga. He rebounded with an allowance win there in July over next-out winner Little Ni and the well-regarded Scotland.
◗ Defending winner Jubilant Joanie highlights the $100,000 Glass Slipper, a one-turn mile for fillies and mares.
◗ Echo Lane is the defending winner of the $175,000 Emerald at 1 1/6 miles on turf. He faces a salty field that includes Grounded, a stakes winner on the Tapeta at Presque Isle Downs, who most recently was second to Encino in the Presque Isle Mile.
Gewurztraminer comes off a win at Indiana with a strong 93 Beyer Speed Figure. Risk Manager has won three straight on three different courses and is a past winner at Churchill.
◗ The $125,000 Rapid Transit, at seven furlongs, includes two runners from the aforementioned allowance won by Welaka – Gilmore was fifth, and Unlimitedpotential sixth after setting the pace. Papa Yo is 4 for 5 at Churchill.
◗ Nerazurri was second in the Grade 3 Princess Rooney two back and most recently third in a stakes-quality allowance at Keeneland. She brings that class to the $150,000 Tiara, where she moves from dirt to turf for Mark Casse. Story Hour also goes dirt to turf in her first start off the claim for Steve Asmussen.
◗ The $150,000 Canterbury Tom Metzen Memorial for turf sprinters includes the consistent runners Frosty View, Pinfire, Speed Figures, and Spoke.
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