Part of the backbone of the racing industry—claiming horses and former claiming horses—get their day in the spotlight Nov. 14 when they pass beneath the shadow of the Twin Spires at Churchill Downs for their share of $1.2 million in purses during the 28th Claiming Crown.
The Claiming Crown is staged by the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association and Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association in conjunction with the host track and its HBPA affiliate. The championship-style event features nine starter allowance races, each carrying a purse of at least $100,000, giving the horses, trainers, and owners who support the industry every day an opportunity to perform on the big stage for the big dollars.
"It's a galvanizing event," National HBPA CEO Eric Hamelback said on Episode 92 of BloodHorse Monday. "It brings people together that you might not necessarily see on a marquee race day. It's very emotional, it's very exciting, hopefully we get pretty good weather. But at the end of the day it's just an event that brings everyone together."
This year's event is certainly bringing a large assortment of people together from across North America. The 113 entrants, including also-eligibles, exit races at 21 different racetracks and have competed at a total of 44 racetracks this season.
Those tracks include Aqueduct Racetrack, Assiniboia Downs, Belmont Park, Belterra Park, Canterbury Park, Charles Town, Churchill Downs, Colonial Downs, Del Mar, Delaware Park, Ellis Park, Evangeline Downs, Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, Fairmount Park, Finger Lakes, Fonner Park, Gulfstream Park, Hawthorne, Horseshoe Indianapolis, Keeneland, Kentucky Downs, Lone Star Park, Laurel Park, Los Alamitos, Mahoning Valley Race Course, Meadowlands, Monmouth Park, Mountaineer, Oaklawn Park, Parx Racing, Penn National, Prairie Meadows, Presque Isle Downs, Remington Park, Sam Houston Race Park, Santa Anita Park, Saratoga Race Course, Sunland Park, Tampa Bay Downs, Thistledown, Timonium, Turf Paradise, Turfway Park, and Woodbine.
"It's really been a representative of the best at this level," Hamelback said of the Claiming Crown. "Obviously you have the Breeders' Cup and horses come from all over the world, but at the end of the day—when you're celebrating the backbone of the industry—the claiming ranks are definitely the largest part of racing in the United States. To see representatives and trainers and owners come from all different areas, it's really just a culmination of having the event. Show them the money and they will come."
That variety in competition helps make the event a test of talent and power, and provides horsemen with an intriguing challenge, whether based in Kentucky or an outside invader shipping in.
"It gives these claiming horses a stage to perform on," Churchill Downs-based trainer Matt Shirer said. "It can be hard to find spots throughout the year for really nice starter horses, so it's nice to see them all run against each other. Obviously, the starter races at Churchill and Keeneland throughout the year, you're only running against a select few of those kinds of horses, but Claiming Crown you get to see horses from all over the country come in. You get to compete and see who's the best."
Shirer has three horses entered in the Claiming Crown, including Jim Nelson's Talkin in Cursive. The 5-year-old Speightster mare is entered in the $100,000 Empress, a new addition to the card in 2026 compared to the prior editions held at Churchill Downs, the host site in four of the last five years.
For fillies and mares who have started for a tag of $16,000 or less in 2025-26, the Empress is a 6-furlong sprint on dirt. A turf filly and mare sprint used to exist when the event was held for a decade at Gulfstream Park, making the race count nine from 2015-21, but was dropped when the event moved to Churchill Downs in 2022. However, the appetite for a ninth race was strong, and the Empress was carded for the dirt, a more reliable surface given Kentucky's inconsistent weather at this time of year. Previous Claiming Crowns have been impacted at times by wet weather.
The return of a ninth race shows the support the Claiming Crown has received from both the horsemen and the gamblers in recent years, and Hamelback said discussion has already begun about adding a 10th race in the near future.
"We're looking to basically have a full card of Claiming Crown races, and along with that increasing the purses even more," Hamelback said. "Between the Virginia HBPA board and the Kentucky HBPA board and Churchill management, we got a lightning-in-the-bottle scenario, and we want to capitalize on that."
BloodHorse Monday: Hamelback discusses Claiming Crown
Hamelback credited some of that growth to adding a Claiming Crown Showcase Day held in late August at Colonial Downs in Virginia. The winners of those races receive a travel stipend and an automatic starting position in the Claiming Crown gates, and the runner-ups get the automatic spot without the stipend. This year, eight of the nine winners from that Showcase return for the final round.
The centerpiece of the day's action is the $200,000 Jewel, contested over 1 1/8 miles on dirt for those who have started for a claiming price of $35,000 or less in 2025-26. The race has the co-lowest number of entries: nine, showing the strength of the event as a whole with an average field size (not including also-eligibles) of 11.2.
Among the Jewel entries is AJ Suited Racing Stable's Carolo Rapido, who exits a pair of fourth-place finishes in stakes marathons for trainer Norm Casse. Claimed by his connections for $62,500 in May, he sports a 3-1-1 record from seven starts at Churchill Downs.
Another top contender will be Mike Campbell Racing Stable's Break Out, who exits a pair of runs at Colonial Downs and holds a 3-1-0 record from four starts this year. Mike Campbell, his trainer, claimed him for $25,000 in July 2025.
But storylines are plentiful throughout the card, including in the event's first race: the $100,000 Ready's Rocket Express over 6 furlongs for horses who have started for a claiming price of $8,000 or less lifetime.
That lifetime condition gives Big Frank Stable's Concrete Glory a chance at history as the 7-year-old Bodemeister gelding seeks to become the Claiming Crown's first three-time winner, having won the Ready's Rocket Express in 2024-25.
Other return winners from 2025 are Paradise Farms and David Staudacher's Shape Note in the Canterbury Tom Metzen Memorial for trainer Mike Maker, and Koentopp Racing's Nation in the Rapid Transit for trainer Bob Hess.
Thanks to the lifetime condition, which Hamelback said was added to help fill the fields for the $8,000-restricted races, horses like Concrete Glory have the safety of a fixed end-of-year target for a large sum of money. That has allowed trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. to take shots with the gelding, who became a stakes winner this February.
A third win will be no easy task for Concrete Glory as he will have to face North America's winningest horse in 2026: Kerness K. Trained by Jamie Ness for Morris Kernan Jr. and Jagger, the 4-year-old Great Notion gelding has fired off 11 straight victories between Laurel, Delaware, and Parx. The ninth of those wins was in the Ready's Rocket's showcase race at Colonial Downs.
Later on in the $100,000 Iron Horse Kent Stirling Memorial, Panda Stable, LBR Racing Stable, and Rashid's Thoroughbred Racing are also taking advantage of the lifetime condition for former $8,000 or less claimers with Freedom Road. Trained by Richard Sillaman, the 6-year-old Malibu Moon gelding has been second in this race for two straight years, but returns after winning Colonial Showcase race this August.
On BloodHorse Monday, Hamelback talked about how the lifetime conditions create this yearly goal, allowing horses at this level to remain campaigned by the same connections year after year and showcasing the athletic abilities of older horses.
"Having that goal has been a tremendous asset for some of these older horses that can really plot a plan to get back to this race," Hamelback said. "For us, that brings in my aftercare passion. These sets of races with older horses, we're just building a pathway for them to get into a second career. We teamed with the Retired Racehorse Project this year trying to get that understanding there are quite a few horses in these races that could go on to be stellar athletes in other careers as well. We've seen Claiming Crown horses make it to the Thoroughbred Makeover Event, and that's something we'd like to see continue."
Through the RRP's Claiming Crown Pledge, owners, trainers and jockeys are encouraged to donate any specified percent or amount of Claiming Crown purse earnings.
