Royal Posse Aims to Add a Second Jewel

Still eligible and going stronger than ever, Royal Posse will try to capture the $200,000 Claiming Crown Jewel for a second straight year at Gulfstream Park Dec. 3, opening day of the track's Championship meet.

Before California Chrome   and other top Thoroughbreds arrive for the first Pegasus Stakes (gr. I) and top 3-year-olds emerge in Gulfstream's stakes for horses pointing to the Triple Crown, former claimers will take the spotlight Saturday in nine Claiming Crown races worth a total of $1.11 million.

Run under starter stakes conditions, the Claiming Crown races serve as a reminder that some talented horses run in racing's most common condition. Royal Posse is just one example. Before becoming a force in the New York-bred handicap division, Royal Posse occasionally showed up in claiming races.

Horse Racing Radio Network plans coverage of Claiming Crown in an English broadcast and a Spanish broadcast.

A May 31, 2015 start in a claiming race at Belmont Park makes Royal Posse eligible for the $200,000 Claiming Crown Jewel for a second straight year. He enters off three straight restricted stakes wins in New York and figures to be favored to defend his 2015 Jewel victory.

Claimed for $20,000 out of that May 31 race by current trainer Rudy Rodriguez for current owners Michael Dubb, Bethlehem Stables, and Gary Aisquith, Royal Posse has gone on to win four stakes—all restricted to New York-breds—and finish second in five other stakes (the Jewel, as a starter-condition stakes, is not counted).

"He's been very, very consistent. I'm very blessed having him around," Rodriguez said. "He's as game as they come and he does everything right. He's had a very good season. He's been one of the best horses in the barn for a long time. He's a nice horse to be around. He's a very good horse. We're just happy to be in the position to go back to Gulfstream."

Royal Posse enters Saturday's test on a career-best roll. The 5-year-old son of Posse won the Alydar Stakes by 1 1/4 lengths Aug. 7 at Saratoga Race Course and picked up a second win at the meet when he drew off to a 5 1/4-length score in the Evan Shipman Handicap. At the Belmont fall meet, he won the Empire Classic Handicap by 3 1/2 lengths. All three races are 1 1/8-mile events, a distance at which he has won 8 of his 11 starts.

Also on Saturday's Claiming Crown card (all other races carry a $110,000 purse):

•    A & K Equine's Eila, by Benny the Bull  , will try for a fifth straight win when she goes in the Claiming Crown Distaff Dash for fillies and mares at five furlongs on the turf.

•    Monster Racing Stables' Shaft of Light will try for a fifth win in his ninth start this season, when he breaks in the Rapid Transit at seven furlongs on the dirt. The 5-year-old Smart Strike gelding finished second in this year's Mr. Prospector Stakes at Monmouth Park.

•    In her previous start at Gulfstream, Jeremiah Kane's A Place to Shine won a $12,500 claiming race. Since then the 3-year-old daughter of Tale of Ekati   has earned a grade III-placing and won two more races. She'll try for another win in Saturday's Glass Slipper, at one-mile on the main track for fillies and mares.

•    With back-to-back wins at Gulfstream and Gulfstream Park West by a combined 18 lengths, Acclaimed Racing' Stable's J B Quick, by J Be K, takes top form into the Express at six furlongs on the dirt.

•    In the 1 1/16-mile Iron Horse, Ten Strike Racing's Goodtimehadbyall will be making his first start since rolling to a 6 1/2-length score in a starter allowance race Sept. 18 at Monmouth. That win ended a stretch of three straight runner-up finishes for the 8-year-old Quiet American gelding.

•    Drawing Away Stable's Doctor J Dub secured victory in one of the top turf sprint races in the country when he upset the field in this year's Turf Monster Stakes (gr. IIIT) at Parx Racing. The 6-year-old Sharp Humor gelding will start from post 11 in a tough edition of the Canterbury, at five furlongs on the turf.

•    Stirrup Trouble's Temple Fur, a 3-year-old daughter of Temple City  , won a stakes on the Gulfstream turf in July, and has placed in two other stakes this season. She'll try for her fifth win of 2016 in the Tiara for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles on the turf.

•    Keystoneforvictory, by Shakespeare, a winner of a stakes race on the Gulfstream turf this season for owners Ken and Sarah Ramsey, will try for his fifth win of the year in the Emerald at 1 1/16 miles on the turf. The Ramseys lead all owners with 14 Claiming Crown victories.