Concrete Glory

Big Frank Stable's Concrete Glory (Bodemeister) has been named Claiming Crown Horse of the Year for 2025 by the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (NHBPA) and the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA), the co-founders of the Claming Crown series. The Pennsylvania-bred was claimed by owner Frank Rupolo out of a winning effort for the bottom-level price of $6,250 out of a daylight victory at Gulfstream Park some 20 races into his career in December 2022. He has since won no fewer than a dozen races under the care...

Six of the eight races on the 27th annual Claiming Crown program Saturday at Churchill Downs were decided by a length or less, and the "blue-collar Breeders' Cup" featured robust fields, with seven of those eight contests luring at least 11 and as many as 14 starters. The Claiming Crown began in 1999 as a way to showcase and reward horses who compete in the types of races that form the backbone of day-to-day American racing, and its annual programs are conducted under starter-allowance conditions pegged to previous-race claiming prices....

Laughing Boy (Distorted Humor) got the last laugh-again-in the featured race on the 26th annual Claiming Crown program Saturday at Churchill Downs. The 6-year-old, who hadn't raced since April, led Saturday's $225,000 Jewel at nine furlongs for most of the trip and then again inside the sixteenth pole. But the no-quit grinder required a stewards' disqualification of the rival who had passed him at both the quarter pole and at the wire to elevate his second-across-the-wire finish to a by-decision victory. That's the second time in three races that Laughing...