NEWS
Classy Emerald Stakes field highlights Claiming Crown
Posted: Wednesday, July 22, 2009 6:33 PM
by Frank Angst
Racing fans may do a double take when they see the field for the $100,000 Claiming Crown Emerald Stakes on Saturday at Canterbury Park.
While Saturday’s seven Claiming Crown races highlight Thoroughbreds who have excelled in the claiming ranks—all entries are required to have started for a tag in 2008 or ’09—the Emerald is filled with accomplished runners in Grade 1 winner Gun Salute, Group 2 winner Hard Top (Ire), and Grade 2-placed Spider Power (Ire). The Emerald is a 1 1/16-mile turf race for three-year-olds and older who have started for a claiming price of $25,000 or less since January 1, 2008.
Winner of the 2005 Secretariat Stakes (G1) at Arlington Park, Gun Salute has won just one of six starts this year, a victory in a claiming race at Keeneland Race Course. The seven-year-old Military gelding won four stakes races in 2005.
Hard Top appears to be entering in better form with victories in three of his previous four starts. Spider Power won the Brooks Fields Stakes on the turf at Canterbury on June 6.
The $150,000 Claiming Crown Jewel Stakes, the feature race on the 11th annual Claiming Crown card, has attracted last year’s National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association Claimer of the Year Antrim County.
The six-year-old Giant’s Causeway gelding won last year’s Claiming Crown Iron Horse Stakes. Antrim County enters Saturday’s 1 1/8-mile main-track race for horses who have started in a claiming price of $35,000 or less since January 1, 2008, off a third-place finish in an optional claiming race at Churchill Downs.
The Claiming Crown has attracted top jockeys such as Racing Hall of Famer Russell Baze as well as Jeremy Rose, Robby Albarado, Julien Leparoux, and Rosemary Homeister Jr., who recently moved into second place on the female jockey wins list.
Top trainers include two-time Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Carl Nafzger, Derby winner Michael Matz, and Scott Lake, who boasts eight Claiming Crown victories.
Frank Angst is senior writer for THOROUGHBRED TIMES
