Ramseys, Maker looking for back-to-back success in Claiming
Crown
The first major event of Gulfstream Park’s Championship
Meet will take place Saturday with the 15th annual Claiming Crown, a collection of eight
stakes races worth a total of $1 million.
The Claiming Crown was established in 1999 to celebrate the
blue-collar horses who are the very foundation of the racing industry nationwide
and is billed as the claiming horse owner’s Breeders’ Cup. It is run under
starter allowance conditions and is open to horses who have raced for a claiming
price of $35,000 or lower since January 1, 2012. The Claiming Crown races have
price limits of $7,500, $16,000, $25,000 and $35,000.
The Claiming Crown’s first stop at Gulfstream Park in 2012 was so well
received by horsemen, racing fans and bettors last year that track management
signed an agreement with the partnership of the National Horsemen’s Benevolent
and Protective Association and Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders’ Association to
host the event for three years.
“Racing fans across the country will enjoy this great
afternoon of racing,” Gulfstream President Tim Ritvo said. “The horsemen have
supported the Claiming Crown once again with full fields and some of the
country’s most popular horses. We’re looking forward to a big day.”
“Gulfstream was gracious in offering to
host the Claiming Crown last year, and it was a phenomenal success,” said Phil Hanrahan,
CEO of the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association. “Based on
nominations and after looking at the overnight and how full the races got, it
looks like this year is going to be another really good year.”
In 2012, horses sporting the red-and-white silks of Ken
and Sarah Ramsey and trained by Mike Maker swept four of the seven Claiming
Crown events, including the Jewel with Parent’s Honor. They also came
within a head of winning a fifth with Major Marvel in the Emerald.
The popular
couple currently lead all owners in 2013 earnings with over $11.8 million. They
will have a chance to go one better in this year’s Claiming Crown with
contenders entered in five of the eight races on Saturday.
The Ramseys Claiming Crown wins 12 months ago included the
seven-furlong Rapid Transit with Bernie the Maestro, and the six-year-old
Bernstein gelding
will tackle the $200,000
Jewel this year. The 5-2 morning-line favorite is
coming off a victory in the October 5 Michael G. Schaefer Memorial at Indiana Downs
and will face nine rivals in the Jewel.
Trainer Tim Glyshaw will send out Voodoo Storm in the 1 1/8-mile Jewel for
Hoosier Daddy’s Stable after claiming the five-year-old son of Storm Cat for
$25,000 in August at Ellis Park.
“He looked like he was a pretty quality horse, and there
isn’t much available in Kentucky for $25,000,” Glyshaw said. “The only negative
thing I saw was that he didn’t have any allowance conditions left — that’s why
we started him for open $50,000 (claimer) at Churchill.”
Glyshaw didn’t have any reservations that Voodoo Storm would be competitive in his first start for his new connections; he was
just concerned that it might have been the last start for his new connections.
Ken and Sarah Ramsey’s reputation for claiming horses, particularly with the
Claiming Crown looming, preceded them.
“We had him long enough for two weeks to know that he was
better than he had been showing. I was just praying that the Ramseys wouldn’t
claim him, because that happens quite a bit,” Glyshaw said.
After finishing second at Ellis Park in that race, Voodoo
Storm returned to a relieved Glyshaw’s barn. He proceeded to take an allowance
by 3 1/4 lengths and the Mountaineer Mile by 7 3/4 lengths in his past two at
Mountaineer Park.
“He’s a little quirky,” Glyshaw admitted. “He gets riled up in the post
parade; he gets riled up in the paddock,; he’s always sweating. If you’re a
handicapper watching him in the paddock, you wouldn’t bet him because he’s
washed out. He was washed out at Mountaineer when it was 30 degrees. That’s
just him.”
Although he was also nominated for the $125,000 Emerald, a turf race, Voodoo
Storm is scheduled for a Jewel clash with Bernie the Maestro.
“I told the owner, ‘Why do we want to change things now?’
This purse is bigger, and going into the race, at least in my mind, I think it
has to be us and Bernie the Maestro as the favorites,” Glyshaw said. “I think
it’s going to be a nice race between those two. But I’m not throwing anyone
out.”
The $125,000
Emerald at 1 1/16 miles on the grass
will take place one race before the Jewel and attracted
an overflow field of 16 but will be limited to 14 starters. Major Marvel narrowly missed in last year’s
Emerald for the Ramseys and Maker, and he is currently on a six-race win
streak. The seven-year-old scored in the Unbridled Stakes at Louisiana Downs on
September 7 and followed that with a win in a tough optional claimer at
Churchill Downs on November 9.
Grip Hands, who has won three of his last four starts, will enter the Emerald in sharp form. The
five-year-old gelded son
of Giant’s Causeway’s victories came on synthetic surfaces, but trainer Graham
Motion expects him to be able to transfer his solid recent form to the
Gulfstream turf course.
“It’s possible that he’s a synthetic specialist, but I’ve
always found that synthetic horses seem to handle grass as well, nine times out
of 10,” Motion said. “I think it’s more of a coincidence that his best races
have been on synthetic surfaces and not grass.”
Grips Hands has been victorious once on grass, showing
promise with a 2 3/4-length triumph over the Gulfstream green on December 3, 2011.
“He’s always been a horse that’s worked very well in the
morning. He’s a very aggressive horse, hence his running style. He tends to be
close to the pace,” Motion said. “He’s put a string of decent races together.
He’s a horse that seems to run well fresh, which is why we decided not to run
him between (winning at) Keeneland (on October 13) and now.”
The Ramsey colors were carried to victory in the $125,000
Tiara by Starsilhouette in 2012, and the leading owners will be represented by
Deanaallen’skitten in Saturday’s renewal of the 1 1/16-mile turf contest. The
six-year-old Kitten’s Joy nare has hit the board in each of her six starts
on the Gulfstream turf course, and ships south off a game success in Aqueduct’s Trevita Stakes for trainer Chad Brown on November 6.
Brother Bird prevailed for the Ramseys in the 2012
Iron
Horse, a 1 1/16-mile contest that is restricted to runners who have started for
a $7,500 or less, and returns for a second straight win in this year’s $110,000
contest. The half-brother to Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird and
the ill-fated Dullahan recently returned from a nine-month break for Maker to be
third in a Churchill starter allowance. He is coming off a fifth-place finish to stablemate and fellow Iron
Horse entrant Horned Frog in an October 18 starter allowance over the Keeneland Polytrack.
Peter Walder, who finished among the top 10 trainers last
winter at Gulfstream in wins, is preparing three contenders for Saturday’s Claiming Crown,
including Toh’s Grey Cat in the Iron Horse.
“We claimed him just for the Claiming Crown,” Walder said.
“He worked (Saturday) in 1:00 2/5 and he did it well, so we’re looking for a
good effort from him. He really is one of those horses who seems to be getting
better with age.”
The six-year-old gelded son of D’wildcat, was
claimed at Gulfstream on September 2 for a $7,500 tag. Walder brought Toh’s Grey Cat
back six weeks later for a 4 1/4-length victory in a starter optional claimer at Calder.
The $110,000
Rapid Transit, a seven-furlong affair for
runners who have been offered for a tag of $16,000 or less, will feature 12
horses including Grande Shores, a homebred for Fred Brei’s Jacks or Better Farm. The
half-brother to Grade 1-winning sprinter Jackson Bend was out of action for 12
months and could have been had for as little as $8,000 last February, but he has
rounded into form recently. After two victories at Calder this summer, the
five-year-old Florida-bred ran second in the September 14 Montbrook Stakes going a mile at
Gulfstream.
Walder will send out Loveyouallthetime in the Rapid Transit after claiming
the chestnut gelding for $10,000 in July. The Not for Love six-year-old has
since won three of his four races.
“I think the Claiming Crown is a great idea,” added Walder,
who’s saddled three horses previously in the series. “It’s nice to have it in
your backyard, and Gulfstream does a great job with it. I’m looking forward to a
big day of racing.”
The $110,000
Express lured a field of 11 horses who had started for $7,500 or less, and the six-furlong race will see Ribo Bobo attempt
to take his winning streak to 10. Claimed in three straight starts at Gulfstream
last winter, the five-year-old hasn’t been offered for a tag since Mr. Amore Stable
and trainer Jason Servis snapped him up for $6,250 in March. Ribo Bobo’s steady rise up
the class ladder includes a win in the Maryland Million Sprint Handicap at
Laurel on October 19 and a second-place finish November 27 in the Fabulous
Strike at Penn National.
Eight fillies and mares will get a chance to strut their stuff
going seven panels in the $110,000
Glass Slipper. Last year’s heroine, Starship
Truffles, went on to win the Princess Rooney Handicap and sold for $1
million last month in Kentucky, a far cry from the maximum $16,000 claiming
price required to be eligible to run in this spot. Trainer Marty Wolfson, who
saddled Starship Truffles last year, will lead over Centrique and Lexington
Pearl on Saturday. Centrique, a well-bred daughter of Malibu Moon, was claimed
twice in 2012, but has been competing in tougher company this season with a trio
of stakes placings.
The Claiming Crown
will kick off with the debut of the $110,000
Iron Lady,
which will go off as the 3RD race to begin the 10-cent Ultimate 8 with a mandatory payout of a minimum of
$100,000.
The inaugural running
of the 1 1/16-mile Iron Lady, for fillies and mares who have
started for $7,500 or less, will see eight distaffers head to the gate but if Winiliscious runs to form, the real race may be for second. Previously trained
by Chuck Spina, the four-year-old earned a 102 BRIS Speed rating when romping by
16 lengths in a starter allowance at Laurel on October 12. Trainer Steve DiMauro has taken over her care on behalf of owner Top Shelf Stable.
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