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Owner-trainer Dewaine Loy with Happy Strike at Churchill Downs Happy Strike cost $6,000 as a yearling purchase at Keeneland’s 2022 September sale. At the same auction, Point Dume cost $450,000. The two horses and 12 others square off in Saturday’s $200,000 Jewel, the most lucrative of the eight races comprising the $1.1 million Claiming [...]
Trainer Joe Roberts and apprentice jockey Amanda Poston with Empire's Best at High Pointe Farm & Training Center near LaGrange, Ky. This fall he uprooted his life and downsized his stable to relocate to Kentucky instead of wintering in his native Texas. He’s going into Saturday’s $1.1 million Claiming Crown at Churchill Downs [...]
Photo by Laura Battles Old Friends, the Thoroughbred retirement facility in Georgetown, Ky., is saddened to report that 1997 Belmont Stakes (G1) winner, Touch Gold, has been euthanized at the age of 31 due to the infirmities of old age. The two-time Grade 1 winner had resided at Old Friends since 2015. “Saying [...]
Dobson addressing The Jockey Club Round Table in Saratoga as the new chair (courtesy The Jockey Club) Everett Dobson, the new chair of The Jockey Club, will deliver the keynote address at the annual National HBPA Conference on March 4. The telecommunications entrepreneur and philanthropist from Oklahoma City is a horse owner and breeder and [...]
Goats On a Tree, the namesake, at Churchill Downs. Gwen Davis/Davis Innovation The background on Goats On a Tree is a wild story. Not that it would be surprising if the 4-year-old filly wins Saturday’s $150,000 Claiming Crown Tiara at Churchill Downs. After all, she’ll be among the favorites in the 1 [...]
Concrete Glory returns to defend last year's victory in the Claiming Crown Ready's Rocket Express. Check out the extended blinker over his right eye. Photo by Gwen Davis/Davis Innovation Even though the 6-year-old gelding Concrete Glory has competed in graded stakes and most recently won a top-level Saratoga allowance race, trainer Saffie Joseph [...]
SUCCEED® Digestive Conditioning Program has signed on as a sponsor of the Nov. 15 Claiming Crown. Ohio-based manufacturer Freedom Health is excited about supporting select horse-racing events with its flagship all-breed digestive support product. The Claiming Crown was created in 1999 by the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (NHBPA) and the Thoroughbred Owners and [...]
Dance Some Mo at Trackside Training Center training for Saturday's Claiming Crown Jewel for trainer Tom Van Berg. Jennie Rees photo The Breeders’ Cup is over for another year. The fireworks of $5 million broodmares and $2.2 million weanlings sold at auction have concluded. Now it’s time for the real world for the [...]
Time for Trouble, outside, winning the 2023 Claiming Crown Iron Horse. Photo by Gwen Davis/Davis Innovation If it’s time for the Claiming Crown, it’s Time for Trouble. Or so it seems. The Claiming Crown will be staged at Churchill Downs for the third time in four years on Nov. 15. Entries will be [...]
The October 2025 issue of BloodHorse magazine features an article about the history, future and importance of the Claiming Crown, which will be renewed for the 26th time on November 15 at Churchill Downs. To read the full article by Alicia Hughes, CLICK HERE.