Twelve in a Row? Kerness K and the Claiming Crown Take Over Churchill
The best story in American racing this Saturday belongs to a horse who began his streak in a $7,500 claimer back in March. Kerness K has won 11 straight for trainer Jamie Ness and leads every Thoroughbred in North America in wins this year. On Saturday he goes for number 12 in the $100,000 Ready's Rocket Express, the opener of the 28th Claiming Crown at Churchill Downs. Martin Chuan rides, post time is 2:28 p.m. Eastern, and every horseplayer who loves a working-class hero should be watching.
He won't have it easy. Concrete Glory, the defending champion, has 18 career wins at 15 different tracks, and a win would make him the first horse ever to win three Claiming Crown races. That is a heavyweight fight to open a nine-race, $1.2 million championship card for the sport's hardest-working starter allowance runners. There are 113 entrants and the fields average better than 11 horses a race, so the betting should be wide open.
The $200,000 Jewel is the richest and longest race of the day, nine furlongs as Race 11 at 5:54 p.m. Expect the Best is the 3-1 morning line favorite, but keep an eye on Linda Rice's Papa Yo at 4-1 with Tyler Gaffalione. The new $100,000 Empress is fascinating on paper. Lady Annabelle brings seven straight wins at Parx, Miracle Ball brings six straight at Canterbury and Prairie Meadows, and one of those streaks has to end. Nation returns to defend the Rapid Transit after winning it by 6 1/4 lengths last year, Shape Note and Jose Ortiz reunite to defend the Canterbury, and Mike Maker, the all-time leader with 23 Claiming Crown wins, has six more chances to add to that record.
Get to the windows early, because Race 3 is the $300,000 Dream Supreme, a six-furlong sprint for fillies and mares. Six-time winner Echo Sound is the 9-5 favorite. Haulin Ice, the first accredited Arkansas-bred to earn $1 million, is also in the field, so the chalk has real company.
At Belmont Park, the juveniles take over the turf. The $175,000 Stewart Manor for 2-year-old fillies goes six furlongs on the inner turf, and it has an international flavor. Pink Venom ships in from Ireland for Johnny Murtagh on a three-race winning streak that includes a win over males. Jamie Spencer rides from post 6, and Team Valor, which bought her privately after her last start, will move her to Amelia Green for an American campaign after this race. Her main rival is Brickyard Belle, who rallied from the back of the pack to win the Grade 3 Matron over this course in October before finishing 11th against males in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint. The companion $175,000 Awad for juvenile colts includes Brad Cox's Titan Ready.
North of the border, Woodbine's Grade 2 Kennedy Road at six furlongs on the Tapeta is a chance for history. Nobals, Larry Rivelli's 2023 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint winner, has won this race the last two years and goes for three straight. Mark Casse is coming with two, My Boy Prince and Victory Achieved, and Wesley Ward ships in Arbiter. On Sunday, My Covenant tries for a fourth straight win for Audrey Cheung in the Lake Ontario, and in the Ashbridges Bay, trainer Steve Attard is confident Regal Affair will handle the stretch out to 1 1/16 miles.
Out west, Del Mar's Bing Crosby season keeps rolling with two seven-furlong races for 2-year-olds. The Desi Arnaz for fillies runs Saturday, and the Bob Hope closes the weekend Sunday at 4 p.m. Pacific.
A claimer chasing a dozen in a row, a sprinter chasing a three-peat and an Irish invader on Belmont's turf all make for a great weekend. Set your alarms, line up your tickets and enjoy it.
