by Myra Lewyn

Trainer Mike Maker and jockey Miguel Mena teamed on Saturday to win three races of the seven-race Claiming Crown series, which was held at Ellis Park for the first time this year.

The pair captured the featured event of the series’ ninth edition, the $144,000 Claiming Crown Jewel Stakes, with J and J Investments’ Miami Sunrise, who raced from just off the pace to record his third straight win.

The five-year-old Wheaton gelding overhauled pacesetter Semi Lost approaching the stretch and drew clear to a 1 ¾-length victory while finishing the 1 1/8-mile race in 1:50.83 on a track rated as fast.

Maker and Mena also combined to win the $97,000 Claiming Crown Emerald Stakes with Ken and Sarah Ramsey’s One Eyed Joker and the $47,000 Claiming Crown Iron Horse Stakes with the couple’s Bargainwiththdevil.

Nine-year-old One Eyed Joker was outrun early but the Polish Numbers gelding closed fast to win the Emerald, a 1 1/8-mile turf race, by a half-length in 1:40.23. One Eyed Joker, a multiple stakes winner in 2000 and ’01, won for the 14th time in 63 career starts and increased his lifetime bankroll to $622,320.

Bargainwiththdevil, whom Maker claimed for the Ramseys for $12,500 out of a race at Churchill Downs on June 23, romped to an 8 ¼-length win in the one-mile Iron Horse. The five-year-old Southern Halo gelding bid on the inside at the quarter pole and drew clear for his second tally in four starts this season.

Also on the card, Scott Blasi Racing Stables’ Golden Hare made all the pace to win the $47,500 Claiming Crown Express Stakes; Rodney L. Morgan’s Adore You notched a one-length win in the $72,000 Claiming Crown Glass Slipper Stakes; James Delaney’s Unplugged prevailed by a nose in the $96,000 Claiming Crown Tiara Stakes; and Richard, Bertram, and Elaine Klein’s Neverbeendancin’ won the $72,000 Claiming Crown Rapid Transit Stakes by a head.

For the Equibase charts, click here.

Myra Lewyn is a Thoroughbred Times daily news editor