Gulfstream Opens Saturday with Claiming Crown

Gulfstream Park on Wednesday released entries for Saturday, when it will open its 2016-2017 championship meet.

 

Opening day also is Claiming Crown day at Gulfstream

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The Halladale Beach track will have the annual nine  Claiming Crown stakes races. All of those races have purses of $100,000 or more and are restricted to horses that have raced at least once for a designated claiming price or lower at least once in 2015 or 2016.

First post is 12:00 p.m. for Saturday’s 11-race card.

The Claiming Crown races are the third through eleventh.  Horses in those races cannot be claimed. We will have coverage from Friday through Sunday on this Web site and on our blog.

The eleven races have 143 entrants, including also  eligibles.  The competition is a mix of horses stabled in South Florida and horses that have been shipped in from around the country.

This is the fifth straight year in which Gulfstream is holding the Claiming Crown. It is sometimes called the “Blue Collar Breeders’ Cup.”

Many of the horses in Saturday’s races have moved up from the claiming ranks and are now racing primarily in stakes races.

The Claiming Crown is organized and sponsored by the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association and by the National Thoroughbred Owners’ and Breeders’Association.