Claiming Crown Kicks Off Gulfstream Meet
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Photo:
Eclipse Sportswire
Last year’s success beginning the Gulfstream Park meet a month early translated into the earliest start ever at the South Florida track. The 2012-2013 Winter meet kicks off on December 1 with a race card highlighted by the Claiming Crown, a series of races designed to feature the best of the blue collar runners.
This is the first time Gulfstream has hosted the Claiming Crown, and lest you think the races are full of horses you have never heard of, look at the entries again. Homeboykris, winner of the 2009 G1 Champagne Stakes, is cross-entered in the Claiming Crown Rapid Transit Stakes and the Claiming Crown Jewel Stakes. Also entered in the Jewel Stakes is Dan and Sheila, the fourth place finisher in both the G3 LeComte Stakes and the G2 Jerome Stakes this year, and stakes placed Flatter This. Grade 3 winner Tamarind Hall highlights the Claiming Crown Glass Slipper Stakes, and graded stakes winners Juanita and Silver Screamer face off in the Claiming Crown Tiara Stakes.
Perhaps the most intriguing match-up, however, is that of King David versus King Kreesa, the 1-2 finishers in this year’s G1 Jamaica Handicap, in the Claiming Crown Emerald Stakes. Also a part of the Claiming Crown series are the Claiming Crown Express Stakes and the Claiming Crown Iron Horse Stakes. All seven Claiming Crown races attracted large fields offering bettors plenty of value.
After the Claiming Crown, the action will be rather slow around the picturesque track. Only two graded stakes are scheduled for the month of December, but come January, things pick up considerably. The New Year’s Day card includes the second running of the Gulfstream Park Derby for 3-year olds going a mile and sixteenth and is highlighted by the G3 Old Hat Stakes in which Kauai Katie will likely make her 3-year old debut. The biggest day of the meet will easily be March 30 which will have a race card comprising of seven stakes races, the feature being the G1 Florida Derby, worth one hundred points to the winner in the new qualification system.
Another first for Gulfstream Park this meet will be hosting the Eclipse Awards program. The awards ceremony will take place the evening of the Sunshine Millions race card on January 19.
After the meet, Gulfstream Park operators will begin an expansion of the facility in the hopes of luring the Breeders’ Cup back to South Florida. Gulfstream had previously hosted the championship races three times, but the scaled-down seating that is currently part of the track’s layout took the track out of consideration for the Breeders’ Cup races. Expansions include two hotels facing the track, an enlarged grandstand seating, and a casino and concert hall. Public money will not be used to fund the renovations.
The Gulfstream Meet is always a key factor in the Road to the Kentucky Derby, and this year will be no different. With many key Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks probables in place at Gulfstream and Palm Meadows, fans are sure to see many exciting match-ups between some of the nation’s top 3-year olds.
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