Like a Saltshaker is Claiming Crown Horse of the Year

"Man, did he dig in! What an awesome horse!" That was trainer Brittany Vanden Berg as she watched the replay of the 6-year-old gelding Like a Saltshaker's finish in last fall's $140,000 Claiming Crown Rapid Transit. Except that Vanden Berg was speaking before she actually knew who won, with the official result finally showing that 14-1 Like a Saltshaker and jockey Chris Emigh nipped 16-1 Keen Cat on a head bob at Churchill Downs. That performance on Nov. 16 earned the Pennsylvania-bred Like a Saltshaker the Claiming Crown Horse of the Year, it was announced today by Claiming Crown co-founders National Horsemen's Benevolent & Protective Association (NHBPA) and the Thoroughbred Owners & Breeders Association (TOBA). "It's a thrill just to talk about it," said Mike Marsico, who with his brothers campaigned Like a Saltshaker after claiming the gelding for $10,000 on May 14, 2023. "I'm still shaking from that finish, watching him come around the turn and seeing that Chris had a lot of horse and he just needed to find a hole -- and he did. That was something. "It's hard to find horses such as Like a Saltshaker, who can win eight or nine races over two years. When you find one of those, they're really special, because every time they get out on the track, you know they'll give their all." Created to give blue-collar workhorses their own championship day on the lines of the Breeders' Cup, the eight-race Claiming Crown is held as big-money starter-allowance races for horses that have competed for a certain claiming level, or cheaper, during a designated time frame. The event is staged each year by the National HBPA and TOBA in conjunction with the host track and with an assist from the state HBPA affiliate. Like a Saltshaker will be honored at the annual TOBA Awards Dinner on Sept. 6 at Fasig-Tipton in Lexington. The Claiming Crown Horse of the Year is selected by the National HBPA's Industry Awards Committee chaired by Todd Mostoller, the Pennsylvania HBPA's executive director. "The way Like a Saltshaker and Keen Cat battled to the wire vividly demonstrates the heart of the claiming horse," Mostoller said. "Selecting a Claiming Crown Horse of the Year out of eight worthy Claiming Crown winners is always difficult. Call it another close decision for Like a Saltshaker based on the dramatic finish. Both horses closed in a full field of 12 to hook up in the final sixteenth mile -- Like a Saltshaker getting through traffic on the inside and Keen Cat coming six-wide on the outside -- with the outcome determined by the narrowest of margins. "While the focus of the Claiming Crown Horse of the Year is on the horse, the award can also take into account the people. Brittany and the Marsico brothers showed the unabashed joy of having a hard-trying claiming horse while encapsulating what the Claiming Crown is all about." The Churchill Downs victory was the biggest to date for Vanden Berg, who began training in 2019 on the Chicago circuit and is now based in Kentucky, and the Marsico brothers. "The way it set up, where he had to weave through traffic, it just made it that much more exciting," said Vanden Berg, who is married to Emigh. "Watching him down the lane, you could actually see him pushing his neck out to try to nose out the other horse. That's why I said, even if he ran second, just to look at him and eyeball the other horse and put his head down, it summed up his entire career of just being one of the most trying-est horses we've ever trained. He really knows he's in a race, and he really knows he's supposed to win, and he knows he gets his picture taken at the end." Vanden Berg and the Marsico brothers were Claiming Crown fans going in, but not surprisingly are even more enthusiastic about the event. "I said to Eric, 'You don't realize how much this means to us,'" Vanden Berg said, referring to National HBPA CEO Eric Hamelback when he told her Like a Saltshaker won the award. "Because we are claiming owners and claiming trainers. This is our Breeders' Cup. This is what we strive for when we look to claim. 'Can this horse maybe be a future Claiming Crown horse?' So to have a horse that actually goes out there, does it and wins, just makes every goal, everything we had put together for the season come together. When you achieve that, it's almost like winning the Super Bowl. In racing, there are always 100 things that can go wrong and one thing that can go right to make it all come together. It just made it that much more special, to do it with a horse that we've loved for so long." Mike Marsico's new goal: "We want to have a starter in every Claiming Crown race this year. I don't know if we will, but that's the goal," he said. The 2025 Claiming Crown, totaling $1.1 million in purses, will be held Nov. 15 at Churchill Downs. Colonial Downs is hosting an eight-race Claiming Crown Showcase Day on Thursday, Aug. 21, at Virginia's track in New Kent, offering $550,000 in purses. The top two finishers in those races will receive an automatic berth in the corresponding Claiming Crown race in Louisville. The winner of each race will also receive a travel stipend from the Virginia HBPA of up to $2,000, provided the horse starts in the Claiming Crown championship race. "The Claiming Crown is one of the most underrated events," Vanden Berg said. "These horses run so hard, and just because they were put in for a 'tag' one time doesn't mean they can't be one of the best horses on the racetrack and make good money. They're just warriors out there. They've maybe had a couple of issues that kept them from getting in big races like the Derby or the Breeders' Cup. But then people like us can get them and fix things, turn things around. Watching the progression is what makes it so special." With Like a Saltshaker running out of starter-race eligibility at the tracks where Vanden Berg primarily races, the Marsicos made the agonizing decision to sell Like a Saltshaker in December to prominent owner Staton Flurry of Hot Springs, Ark. Flurry was an admirer of Like a Saltshaker and wanted to race the now-7-year-old in Pennsylvania to take advantage of that state's breeding incentives. Vanden Berg and the Marsicos knew Flurry would take good care of the gelding. "Hopefully we'll have a few more fun races with him," Flurry said. "He's just a cool, laid-back horse. We'll just see how long he wants to keep doing it. Whenever he tells us it's time, he's got a second career as an eventer and a second home already lined up. He'll be in good hands for the rest of his life." Like a Saltshaker has won 18 of 43 career starts, with nine seconds and a third, for earnings of $606,161. He went 5-2-1 in 12 starts last year for purses of $184,300. The deadline is Oct. 25 to request Claiming Crown eligibility for a horse to run in the Nov. 15 races at Churchill Downs, accompanied by a $250 administrative fee per horse per race. Late eligibility requests will be considered up to Nov. 8 (the day of entries) for a $1,250 administrative fee. More information is available at claimingcrown.com or by reaching out to National HBPA CEO Eric Hamelback at 859-259-0451 or ehamelback@hbpa.org or Dan Bork at 502-638-3825 or dan.bork@kyderby.com.