After August 21, the cost to nominate a horse to the 2011 Claiming Crown will increase to $500, and the deadline to submit nominations at the $500 cost is Friday, October 21. Nominators must also identify the horse(s) they made eligible through any open nominations by Friday, October 21.
With an open ($250) nomination, the nominating owner or his authorized agent need not identify either a specific horse for nomination or the intended Claiming Crown race at the time of nomination. The nominating owner or his authorized agent must identify the nominated horse no later than 12:00 midnight EDT on Friday, October 21, 2011. Open nominations for which no horse has been identified by 12:00 midnight EDT on Friday, October 21, 2011 are invalid.
Supplemental nominations (five percent of the race’s purse) will be accepted through Friday, November 18, 2011.
The nomination schedule and forms for the 2011 running of the $500,000 Claiming Crown are available on the Claiming Crown website at www.claimingcrown.com.
The Claiming Crown is a partnership between the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association and the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association. Patterned after the Breeders’ Cup, the Claiming Crown was designed to reward Thoroughbred racing’s “blue-collar” horses and offer races at varying distances on both dirt and turf. This will mark the first time Fair Grounds has hosted the event, which debuted at Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minnesota in 1999. Canterbury has hosted 10 of the first 12 renewals of the event. The Claiming Crown was held at Philadelphia Park (now Parx Racing) in Bensalem, Pennsylvania in 2002 and at Ellis Park in Henderson, Kentucky in 2007. For more information about Claiming Crown please visit www.claimingcrown.com.
