Maker has ‘short' lineup for Claiming Crown

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Most trainers would love to be able to run a half-dozen horses on Saturday’s Claiming Crown program at Gulfstream Park. But for Mike Maker, who has been king of this event since its 1999 inception, starting only six runners in the nine Claiming Crown races on opening day of the 2018-19 Gulfstream Park Championship meet may almost seem like a day off.

Maker added to his record here a year ago when Special Ops won the Emerald, giving him his 16th Claiming Crown winner, the overwhelming majority coming for owners Ken and Sarah Ramsey.

“We’ve only got five or six for the Claiming Crown this year,” Maker said shortly after his arrival in South Florida on Monday. “We’re accustomed to running many more on this day, but that’s just the way it worked out this year.”

Maker will send out two starters, Bad Student and Race Me Home, in the afternoon’s marquee event, the $200,000 Jewel. Maker claimed Bad Student for $40,000 out of his last start, a fourth-place finish at Belmont Park. He took Race Me Home for $50,000 in mid-September at Churchill Downs and sent him down here to win a starter allowance race at Gulfstream Park West earlier this month for his third victory in the last four starts.

“We took Bad Student because we felt his best races were going longer and with this race in mind,” said Maker, who has 60 horses bedded down between Gulfstream Park and the Palm Meadows training center with more expected to arrive shortly following the conclusion of the Churchill Downs meet.

“The same goes for Race Me Home, whom we were able to get down here early to win the prep for the Jewel at Gulfstream West.”

The Ramseys, who have been the most dominant owners in Claiming Crown history with 15 wins, will also be relatively quiet Saturday. Maker and the Ramseys will combine with only one starter – Peru in the $125,000 Tiara.