Claiming Crown Returns to Fair Grounds This Fall

The 2023 Claiming Crown will be staged Dec. 2 for the first time since 2011 at the Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots in New Orleans, its founders announced May 18. The event will feature eight races totaling $1 million in base purses, headlined by the $200,000 Claiming Crown Jewel.

The 25th Claiming Crown marks the second straight year that the series has gone to a Churchill Downs Inc.-owned locale. The 2022 races were held for the first time at the company's flagship track, Churchill Downs, in Louisville after a 10-year run at Gulfstream Park in Florida. Fair Grounds staged a truncated version of the event in 2011 when the Claiming Crown moved from the summer to the late fall for the first time.

The Claiming Crown races are conducted under starter-allowance conditions, meaning they are restricted to horses that have competed at least once for a certain claiming level or cheaper during a designated time frame, in this case, 2022 or 2023. Purses for the eight Claiming Crown races will range from $75,000 to $200,000. Another $25,000 in each race will be available in purse supplements for accredited Louisiana-bred horses.

Conceived to be a Breeders' Cup-style event for claiming horses, the Claiming Crown was created in 1999 by the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association and the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association. The program gives Thoroughbred racing's workhorses, and their owners and trainers, a day in the spotlight in recognition of their importance to filling out race cards across the nation.

"Big Easy, here we come," said Eric Hamelback, CEO of the National HBPA. "The Claiming Crown was designed to celebrate our hard-knocking, unsung heroes of the turf. What better place—especially for our 25th running—than New Orleans? Beyond what we know will be a festive atmosphere, the Fair Grounds is iconic in American racing history, first running races in 1838 and with a track surface long acclaimed among the best in the country."

The eight 2023 Claiming Crown races all are for horses aged 3 and up, with two of those restricted to fillies and mares. Three of the races are on grass.

Fair Grounds suspended turf racing for more than a month to begin the 2022-23 meet and then later in the meet used only the course's outside lanes due to damage to the inner portion of the course. Track officials attributed the damage to saltwater intruding into the well the track used for watering the grass.

The course typically must also recover from wear and tear caused by fans attending the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, a popular music festival staged mostly on and within the track oval in late spring after the meet has concluded.

"We are honored and excited to return to the Fair Grounds and New Orleans," said Dan Metzger, president of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association. "We would like to thank the Louisiana HBPA and Churchill Downs for their commitment to the event and the owners and trainers who will participate in the 2023 Claiming Crown for their support."

"We were thrilled with the response to the first Claiming Crown at Churchill Downs and look forward to bringing this wonderful event back to New Orleans," said CDI executive director of racing Gary Palmisano. 

The deadline to make horses eligible for the Claiming Crown is Nov. 18, with entries to be taken Nov. 25. More information is available at www.claimingcrown.com. 

Past Claiming Crown venues include the inaugural site Canterbury Park (1999-2001, 2003-06, 2008-10), Philadelphia Park, now known as Parx Racing (2002), Ellis Park (2007), and Gulfstream Park (2013-21).