Bill Finley 10y

Palace, best claim ever?

Horse Racing

It should be a terrific day out at Belmont on Saturday, when they'll hold six graded stakes races worth a combined $3.4 million. Put on that kind of racing with this kind of talent involved and it's easy for a horse to be overshadowed. Vosburgh starter Palace isn't the biggest star on the card. He's not even the most famous "Palace" on the New York circuit, that title belonging to Palace Malice. But he's certainly the biggest overachiever.

Palace began his career with trainer Bill Mott, who seemed to give up on the son of City Zip after he tired in the stretch of a Sept. 8, 2012, maiden special weight race at Belmont and fell prior to the finish. Mott dropped the colt in for $20,000 in his next start and trainer Linda Rice pounced. She put the claim slip in for owner Antonino Miuccio.

Today, Palace is a two-time Grade I winner and has earned over $1.3 million

"He was a lightly raced New York-bred 3-year-old who is by City Zip," Rice said. "I am fond of City Zip's because I trained him and have had quite a few of his babies. For $20,000 it was a risk worth taking."

Palace won the day he was claimed by 11 3/4 lengths and then went on to win his first three starts for Rice.

"When I got the horse I could see him start to flourish," she said. "He was gaining weight and improving. Every work was better than the last."

It might seem that claiming a horse off of Mott would have very little upside. As good a trainer as Mott is, how could you possibly improve a horse he's been training? Rice didn't see it that way. In fact, she says she likes claiming off of top trainers because she knows that they take good care of their horses.

"Bill Mott is a terrific trainer, a Hall of Fame trainer," she said. "Palace was well taken care of, given plenty of time as a 2-year-old as they didn't run him. He was owned by WinStar and had fallen in the stretch in his only start on turf. The way I looked at it, with three mediocre performances out of him he was put on their cull list. I was also confident that Bill Mott and WinStar would not put a horse on racetrack that was questionable as far as soundness goes."

What was the greatest claim in the history of the horse racing? As is the case with so many things, there's no one answer, but the list probably starts with Stymie. In 1943, he was claimed for $1,500 by trainer Hirsch Jacobs, who took him off of Max Hirsch. It didn't look like a good idea at the time as Stymie finished seventh that day and would lose his next 10 starts, six of them in claimers. But he would eventually turn into a good, remarkably durable horse. He won 35 of 131 starts, including the Brooklyn, Saratoga Cup, Met Mile and Mass Cap. He is the only member of the Hall of Fame to have been claimed.

Hall of Fame trainer Jimmy Croll claimed Parka for $10,000 in 1961 and he went on to win 27 times, including races like the United Nations, the Knickerbocker and the Long Island Handicap. Maryfield belongs on the list. She was claimed for $50,000 in 2006 and would later win the Ballerina, the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint and an Eclipse Award as the nation's outstanding female sprinter.

John Henry and Seabiscuit ran in claimers but were never claimed.

Palace may have to do more to land the unofficial title of best claim ever but he may be well on his way. Since the Rice claim Palace has won 10 of 17 starts. Six of those wins have come in stakes.

Palace won his first graded stakes last year when capturing the Fall Highweight and has only gotten better this year. He's won three of his past four and his past two starts have resulted in Grade I wins in the Alfred Vanderbilt and the Forego. Should he win Saturday he will be the leading candidate for the sprint championship and a top contender in the Breeders' Cup Sprint.

Palace's appearance Saturday is just one of many storylines on a program that has ample Breeders' Cup ramifications.

The biggest race on the card is the $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup. A 3-year-old hasn't won the Gold Cup since Summer Bird in 2009 but the 3-year-olds will be the star attractions as 12 horses will battle for the top prize of $600,000. Belmont winner Tonalist needs to get going again after losses in the Jim Dandy and Travers; V E Day needs to prove his Travers win was no fluke and Wicked Strong needs to show he can win at a distance longer than nine furlongs. If any one of the three wins the Gold Cup they will likely head to Santa Anita as major contenders for the Breeders' Cup Classic.

Rather than tackle the Jockey Club Gold Cup at a mile-and-a-quarter after winning the Woodward, Itsmyluckyday will drop back in distance and go in the one-mile Kelso. He's trained by Eddie Plesa Jr., one of the more underrated trainers in the sport, and looks like the one to beat there.

Last year Todd Pletcher pulled Princess of Sylmar out of the Cotillion at Parx against straight 3-year-old fillies only to try what appeared to be a harder race. It worked as Princess of Sylmar beat the older fillies and mares in the Beldame. Now he's trying the same move with Stopchargingmaria, who must have a win to have any chance of unseating Untapable for the 3-year-old filly championship.

Chad Brown, who is loaded with grass fillies, will send out three in the Flower Bowl. Shug McGaughey's Abaco has never been better and is a major threat.

In The Joe Hirsch, Main Sequence looks tough for Graham Motion. He's won two straight, both Grade I's, since arriving from Europe. Brown won't make it easy on him as he has a tough pair of Kitten's Joy offspring in Big Blue Kitten and Real Solution.

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