Claiming Crown

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...