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So long since racing last held in Hawkes Bay many must have died off meaning lots of new race goers at Waipuk must be first timers lol, good crowd it seems.😁 -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
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. The feature on an afternoon of fast/firm course conditions, the $225,000 Jewel at nine furlongs, resulted in a 9-1 upset by the Parx-based Double Your Money, a 4-year-old by 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' Demarchelier (GB). The Nov. 15 Claiming Crown assignment over nine furlongs was a turnback in distance for the 6-for-25 gelding, who last year was twice claimed for $16,000 and $30,000 to meet the $35,000-or-less-in-2024/2025 eligibility condition of the Jewel. Double Your Money had finished second at 16-1 odds in the Sept. 20 GIII Greenwood Cup at Parx over 1 1/2 miles and won an Aqueduct starter-allowance going 1 3/16 miles Oct. 18. With eight horses still in it to win it by mid-stretch, jockey Melvis Gonzalez aimed Double Your Money through a narrow gap between horses and the gelding kicked clear under steady handling to win by 1 1/4 lengths in 1:50.89. “He had a lot of turf races and he had never gone two turns on the dirt when I claimed him,” said trainer and co-owner Benjamin Dunn. “When I started training him, I thought, 'This horse wants three turns on the dirt.' And he lived up to the expectations [on Saturday]. He doesn't stop. All the stamina in the world.” Co-owner Chris Mancusi is also in on the Double Your Money partnership. “Hopefully I'll be back here before the Isaac Murphy Marathon in the spring,” Dunn said, referring to the $200,000 listed stakes at 1 1/2 miles that is generally run during opening week of the Churchill spring meet. The $175,000 Emerald at 1 1/16 miles on the turf was a deja vu victory for Echo Lane (Treasure Beach {GB}), who won this same Claiming Crown race last year. Unlike the 12-1 odds he was in 2024, bettors this year backed the 4-year-old colt to 2.45-1 favoritism, and Echo Lane utilized similar stalking tactics to tally by a length in 1:42.49 under Luis Saez for owner Anthony Rogers and trainer Rohan Crichton. Echo Lane was barely eligible for the conditions of this race (claiming tag of $25,000 or less in 2024/2025), having broken his maiden for $25,000 at Gulfstream on Jan. 20, 2024. Echo Lane | Coady Media In the $150,000 Tiara for distaffers at 1 1/16 miles on the turf, 2.3-1 favorite Ashima (The Big Beast) won her 10th lifetime race from 20 starts by threading through at the fence from midpack and kicking clear inside the final furlong after being repositioned outside by Irad Ortiz Jr. The 4-year-old filly scored by three-quarters of a length in 1:43.08. Owned by Wallace Moore Jr. and trained by Sal Santoro, Ashima had plenty of cushion in meeting the $25,000-or-less claiming conditions for the Tiara. Almost exactly a year ago, last Nov. 17, her current connections claimed her for $8,000 at Gulfstream, and she has been a turf and Tapeta force in Florida at the higher-priced starter-allowance/optional claiming level since then without once being re-entered for a tag. In the $150,000 Canterbury Tom Metzen Memorial on the grass at 5 1/2 furlongs, Shape Note (Mendelssohn) was buried at the rail and had to check off heels at the top of the stretch before hitting another gear inside the final eighth, darting through at the fence to score by a neck at 8-1 odds in 1:02.47 with a well-timed ride by Jose Ortiz. Claimed six times in his 10-for-22 career, the 4-year-old gelding on four of those occasions changed hands at a level that met Saturday's $25,000-or-less-in-2024/2025 eligibility conditions. Shape Note was most recently claimed for $25,000 in July at Ellis Park by current owners Paradise Farms Corp. (Peter Proscia) and David Staudacher. Saturday's victory was a record-extending 23rd career Claiming Crown win for trainer Michael Maker. The $125,000 Rapid Transit, at seven furlongs for horses that have started for a $16,000 tag or less in 2024-2025, produced the biggest-margin win of the Claiming Crown races. Nation (Constitution), a 5-year-old gelding who auctioned for $300,000 and $385,000 as a weanling and yearling but was twice claimed for $10,000 and $20,000 this past summer at Del Mar, stalked the pace, took over on the turn, then cracked the race open in the straight, leaving behind a splintered wall of challengers in a 6 1/4-length rout at 6-1 odds in 1:22.01. Nation is owned by Koentopp Racing, LLC (Kevin Koentopp) and trained by Bob Hess Jr., with Irad Ortiz Jr. in the irons. In the $100,000 Ready's Rocket Express, 4-5 favorite Concrete Glory (Bodemeister) jumped out to a clear lead beneath Irad Ortiz Jr., who ended up with three Claiming Crown wins. The 6-year-old gelding withstood constant pressure from the second favorite and outlasted that rival to the wire for victory by a head in 1:09.89 for six furlongs. Concrete Glory had been competing a Grade III sprints as recently as June. But the Saffie Joseph Jr. trainee for owner Big Frank Stable (Nikki Rupolo) had once, back in 2022, started for a $6,250 claiming tag, which put him below the $8,000-or-less-in-lifetime starter condition. Curlin's Malibu | Coady Media In another Claiming Crown race with an $8,000 or-less-in-lifetime condition, the $100,000 Iron Horse/Kent Stirling Memorial, Curlin's Malibu (Curlin) swung out to the five path at the head of the lane and launched into a long, grind-down drive. It took the length of the stretch for the 3.4-1 second favorite to reel in the resurgent 8-5 choice by a neck in 1:45.01 for 1 1/16 miles. More than three years and 34 races ago, the 6-year-old gelding had been owned by Jeanine Cumiskey when he was still a maiden at Colonial Downs. After three claims, four trainer switches and four wins since 2022, Cumiskey re-acquired Curlin's Malibu prior to a Saratoga start this past August, and the gelding is now 2-1-1 from four starts under the care of trainer Joe Sharp. Luis Saez rode. Next Girl (Divining Rod) sat second behind quick splits of :22.48, :44.91 and 1:09.58 in the one-mile $100,000 Glass Slipper for fillies and mares, collared a stubborn leader in upper stretch, but had to claw back the lead to prevail in a desperate, head-bob photo-finish to win by a nose under Jose Ortiz in 1:36.10. The 4-year-old filly, the 3.1-1 second choice, has been owned by WWCD, LLC (Wade Meadows) and trained by W. Robert Bailes for the entirety of her 7-for-23 career in the mid-Atlantic region. The one time that Next Girl ran for a tag of $12,500 to meet the starter conditions of this race was back on Jan. 24, 2024, when she broke her maiden by 13 1/2 lengths with no takers at the claim box. The post Double Your Money Wins Claiming Crown Jewel In Afternoon Of Close Finishes appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
The 2023 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T) winner, Nobals, repeated in the $127,026 Kennedy Road Stakes (G2) at Woodbine Nov. 15.View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
It's been 23 years since the Claiming Crown was run in Pennsylvania at Philadelphia Park, later to be renamed Parx Racing. Still, the outcome of the headline event on Claiming Crown Day at Churchill Downs had a Keystone State feel to it.View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Jockey Dylan Davis will be sidelined indefinitely after suffering multiple fractures and internal injuries in a Nov. 14 spill the seventh race at Aqueduct Racetrack.View the full article
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