The Week in Review: Maker Magic on Display

Back in 2015 when Mike Maker claimed Shining Copper (Aragorn {Ire}) for $62,500 for Ken and Sarah Ramsey the expectations were modest. They wanted the horse not so much for where he finished but how he started. He was claimed to be a rabbit for the Ramseys' multiple Grade I winning ridgling Big Blue Kitten (Kitten's Joy). That Shining Copper has now developed into a graded stakes winner in his own right would be a surprise, if not for the incredible track record of his trainer.

As grass racing has continued to grow in the U.S., no trainer has better figured out how to take advantage of the multiple lucrative opportunities on the turf than Maker. Not only does Maker win a bundle of grass stakes races he often does it with former claimers.

Since 2011, Maker has won graded stakes race on the grass with 13 horses that he claimed. Shining Copper, who was claimed by Maker, transferred to Chad Brown and then returned to his old barn last year, joined the list Nov. 23 when he won the GIII River City H. at Churchill Downs. For Brown, he finished third in the GI Arlington Million and second in the GI Gulfstream Park Turf H., but did not win a graded stakes.

Maker's modus operandi is straightforward. Every one of 13 eventual graded stakes winners were claimed for somewhere between $35,000 and $62,500. Twelve of the 13 already had established form on the turf when claimed. Maker, apparently, saw some potential in these horses that their prior connections overlooked or realized better than most that the gap in grass racing between high-class claimers and graded stakes company is a small one.

Shining Copper has won nine times and earned $817,169–most of it coming after the claim by the taciturn trainer–but it is far from Maker's biggest success story.

His list of claimers turned turf monsters is topped by the following:

—Al's Gal (English Channel): The mare was claimed for $35,000 for the Ramseys in 2015 and went on to win the GI E.P. Taylor S. a year later. The Ramseys parlayed that win into another big success at the sales, selling Al's Gal for $800,000 at the 2016 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Mixed sale.

—Bigger Picture (Badge of Silver): The gelding was claimed by Maker in 2015 for $32,000 on behalf of Three Diamonds Farm. Since, he's won two stakes, including the GI United Nations in 2017.

—Da Big Hoss (Lemon Drop Kid): He was taken for $50,000 in 2015 by Maker and Skychai Racing Ltd. He's since won seven stakes races and his career earnings are $1,510,756, most of it coming under Maker's care.

—King David (Hat Trick {Jpn}): Then three, he was claimed for $35,000 in 2012 and won the GI Jamaica H. in his next start at odds of 28-1.

“Mike has a knack, a natural ability to look at horses and pick them out and be able to move them up in class and change their running style some,” said Harvey Diamond, a partner in Skychai Racing. “It works both ways. Sometimes one of us will come up with a horse and sometimes he does. Sometimes, it's a case where he has been following a horse for a while and just waiting for the right opportunity.”

For Skychai, Maker also claimed Special Ops (Big Brown) for $50,000 in June. The 7-year-old wasn't able to add much to the story Saturday when sixth in the $125,000 Col. E.R. Bradley Handicap at the Fair Grounds, but you won't get any complaints from the Shychai team. Since the claim, Special Ops has won the $75,000 West Virginia Speakers Cup at Mountaineer and the $125,000 Claiming Crown Emerald at Gulfstream.

Maker, a former assistant to D. Wayne Lukas, went out on his own in 2003. Ironically, at the start of his career, he was anything but a grass trainer. In 2006, his barn won 98 dirt races from 194 starters and only three turf races. He started just 16 horses on the grass that year. By last year, the transformation was complete. Maker went 126 for 677 on the grass and 90 for 432 on the dirt.

Firenze Fires in the Jerome

It may be only mid-January and the top two juveniles from last year, Good Magic (Curlin) and Bolt d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro) have yet to make their 3-year-old debuts, but it's been far from a sleepy few weeks for the sophomore class.

Two meaningful preps for the GI Kentucky Derby were run on Saturday with the Jerome at muddy Aqueduct leading off. The heavy favorite, Firenze Fire (Posiedon's Warrior) had an up-and-down campaign last year but when he was good he was outstanding. His win over eventual GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Good Magic in the GI Champagne stands out and is enough to make him one of the leading 3-year-olds of 2018. Sent off at 45-100, his narrow half-length win in the Jerome may not look that impressive on paper, but he had to overcome a difficult trip. Five others jockeys fell asleep while Paco Lopez was able to get Seven Trumpets (Morning Line) to the lead in dawdling fractions of 25.01, 50.81 and 1:16.72. With his mount last a half-mile into the race, jockey Manuel Franco left Firenze Fire with a lot to do. That he was able to run down a pretty good horse in Seven Trumpets and was so game in victory are positive signs.

At the Fair Grounds, Instilled Regard (Arch) was an easy 3 3/4- length winner of the GIII Lecomte S. for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer and owner Larry Best. It was the first stakes win for the colt and the best sign yet that Best will likely get a nice return on the $1,050,000 investment he made when buying Instilled Regard at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company 2017 March Sale of 2-year-olds in training. He was third in the GI Los Alamitos Futurity in his prior start.

Another winner was the Los Alamitos race, which is now looking like one of the toughest 2-year-old races run last year. Since, McKinzie (Street Sense), who was placed first through disqualification, has also come back to win, impressively in the GIII Sham. Solomini (Curlin), who was declared the winner via a stewards's ruling, has yet to race this year.

Foreigners Dominate WHOA Support

English-born trainer Graham Motion joined the Water Hay Oats Alliance (WHOA) last week in support of the group's efforts towards passage of The Horseracing Integrity Act. Motion said he joined WHOA because the group is pushing for a national governing body with uniform rules and penalties that are in sync with international rules of racing (IFHA) bringing transparency and integrity to US racing. It may be wishful thinking that the sport will ever come together to bring about the reforms that WHOA wants, but it certainly doesn't hurt that WHOA has added someone as respected as Motion is to its list of horsemen supporting its battle.

The list of trainers that are on board with WHOA is emblematic of the deep divide between North America and the rest of the world when it comes to medication. Motion became the fifth active North American-based trainer to join the group. The others are Jonathan Sheppard,, Michael Dickinson, Roger Attfield and Neil Drysdale. All were born in the U.K. With the recent death of Jack Van Berg, not one U.S. born trainer has come out in support of WHOA.

Four others trainers have pledged their support. They are Alec Head, Criquette Head Maarek, John Gosden and Gai Waterhouse, two French trainers, an Australian and an Englishman.