Courtesy of the BloodHorse

Anne M. Eberhardt

Maker Poised to Add to his Claiming Crown Record
The leading trainer at Churchill Downs this fall has 11 Claiming Crown entries.
By BloodHorse Staff


Winding down the best season of his career and coming off the Churchill Downs fall title, trainer Mike Maker looks to add to his record 17 victories in the Claiming Crown when the event is staged Dec. 5 at Gulfstream Park.

He has 11 horses spread among five of the nine stakes comprising the Claiming Crown, which serves as a showcase day for the blue-collar horses that are the backbone of American racing.

The Claiming Crown stakes are run under starter allowance conditions, restricted to horses who have competed for a designated claiming price or cheaper within a certain time frame. The event, in its 22nd year and ninth straight at Gulfstream, is a partnership between the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association and the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association.

Maker aims to improve on what already is his best season since leaving his job as an assistant trainer to D. Wayne Lukas to open his own stable in 2003. His horses have won a career-best 253 races (third in North America) and nearly $13.5 million (fifth in North America) this year through Dec. 3. That includes Maker's third Breeders' Cup victory with Three Diamonds Farm's Fire At Will in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Presented by Coolmore America (G1T) at Keeneland. Maker had two other grade 1 winners in 2020: Zulu Alpha in the Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes Presented by Runhappy (G1T) at Gulfstream and Aquaphobia in the United Nations Stakes (G1T) at Monmouth Park.

"I'm very happy, and hopefully we can add to it this weekend," Maker said of his season.

Maker's 11 Claiming Crown entries include six in the $95,000 Emerald Stakes, though one is an also-eligible. The Emerald, a race he's won seven times, is for 3-year-olds and up on the turf.

Maker has the 7-2 morning-line favorite, Hieroglyphics, in the Emerald along with Temple (4-1), Artie's Rumor (5-1), Muggsamatic (6-1), and Apreciado (8-1). Sniper Kitten (12-1) is the also-eligible.

His other starters are Jakarta (8-5) in the $90,000 Distaff Dash, Treasure Trove (7-2) in the $150,000 Jewel, Long Blade (7-2) in the $75,000 Express, and Unmoored (3-1) and Tiger Blood (6-1) in the $90,000 Canterbury.

"I think we've got a good group of horses," said Maker, who also won the Kentucky Downs training title this year. "Jakarta fits very well. Treasure Trove was claimed in Indiana with this spot in mind, with Jesus' Team obviously the one to beat there. We're tough in the Canterbury, but Fiya looks awful tough. A lot of live chances as far the Emerald, but I don't think they can separate any of our horses. I think it will come down to the trip."

Maker, shut out in the Claiming Crown last year for the first time since 2015, says his clients really enjoy the lucrative event.

"It's a good way to finish off the year," Maker said. "We've claimed a lot of horses, a lot of horses fit here, and we've had good success. It's a great way to kick off the meet at Gulfstream. It's been a lot of fun. When you claim a horse, you kind of figure out how to get out (investment-wise) and make money, and the Claiming Crown is one of the factors that always goes into the decision."