Trainer Ben Dunn and jockey Melvis Gonzalez, both based at Parx, teamed up to capture the $224,943 Claiming Crown Jewel with Double your money who gathered through traffic to beat Cadet Corps with 1 1/4 lengths.
Despite posting a 4-6-1 record in 11 starts this year entering Saturday’s race, a record that includes a second-place finish in the Greenwood Cup (G3) in September at Parx and a starter’s fee win last month Aqueduct racecourseDouble Your Money surprised the gambling public and paid $21.46 to win.
His victory did not shock his connections, who had confidence in the 4-year-old Demarchelier gelding, who sent him for the opportunity in the Jewel. He produced, closed from the center pack and weaved between the horses and then around the inside to outrun 13 rivals, posting a time of 1:50.89 for 1 1/8 miles on a fast track. A solid pace in the race, with splits of :23.31, :47.07 and 1:11.82, set the stage for Double Your Money and other closers to be effective.
“I got so excited and nervous after the race that I got sick,” said 25-year-old Dunn, who co-owns the gelding with Chris Mancusi. “It means a lot to me to have a horse running here. This horse doesn’t stop running.”
Mancusi, a New Yorker, dropped his phone in the excitement of winning the race before recovering it.
“Once I saw him cross the finish line, I ran straight to the winner’s circle. What a race,” he said.
Since moving to their stable following a $30,000 claim at Keeneland last fall by owner-trainer John O’Meara, Double Your Money has earned $331,150 in 13 starts for his current connections, a bankroll that includes $5,000 in earnings from a race late last year at Parx.
Double Your Money was bred in Kentucky by BHMFR from the Horse chestnut mare Aesculus .
Cadet Corps finished second, a neck ahead He got angry in third place. Favorite Navajo warrior ran eighth.
The field for the Claiming Crown Jewel approaches the clubhouse turn at Churchill Downs
The Claiming Crown, a partnership between the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association and the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, was founded in 1999 as a showcase day for claiming horses: equine athletes who are the backbone of everyday racing in North America. Claiming Crown races vary in distance, terrain and conditions, and have different entry criteria based on claim levels.
The Jewel, the richest of the Claiming Crown’s eight high-end starter allowance races, was limited to horses that had raced at a claiming price of $35,000 or less in 2024-2025.
Saturday marked the third time in the past four years that Churchill has hosted the event, which over the years has spread across the country, spending extended periods in Canterbury Park And Gulfstream Park. Besides these tracks and Philadelphia Park, Fair Grounds Race Track and Slot Machines And Ellis Park also organized the event.
Ortiz Brothers COMBINE FOR FIVE WINS
Saez takes two
- Jockey Luiz Saez took the other two Claiming Crown victories, with the first coming aboard Jeanine Cumiskey’s late-running Curlins Malibu ($8.82). He looked gritty Freedom Road by a neck in the $109,914 Kent Stirling Memorial Iron Horse. The Joe Sharp trainee ran 1 1/16 miles on dirt roads in 1:45.01.
- Saez then closed out the card Echo Lane ($6.90), repeated in the $182,866 Claiming Crown Emerald. Saez also rode that gelding to victory in the same race at Churchill Downs in 2024. Anthony Rogers owns and Rohan Crichton trains the 4-year-old son of Honey beach . Echo Lane ran 1 1/16 miles on grass in 1:42.49, slower than his 1:41.09 time in 2024.
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