Next Girl

6. NEXT GIRL, CNL, 3/12, Allowance, 1 1-16 miles (video) Beyer Speed Figure-91 (m, 5, by Divining Rod--Fleet and Fancy, by Touch Gold) O-WWCD. B-Country Life Farm and Fleet and Fancy (Md). T-W. Robert Bailes. J-Jeiron Barbosa. WWCD partners Konrad Wayson and Wade Meadows bought Next Girl as a weanling for $20,000 and have campaigned her through 28 starts and 8 wins, with this 3 1/2-length allowance romp as the high point. Her two best races have come on wet footing, but she'll surely never again encounter conditions like she...

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....