Nov. 13 (UPI) — Saturday’s Claiming Crown races at Churchill Downs give the sport’s workaday horses a chance at glory and slightly inflated paychecks.

Unlike the Breeders’ Cup, where entry primarily is through success in graded stakes races, the Claiming Crown heats are open only to horses who have started in claiming races for specific amounts in the recent past.

Nine races, two of them on dirt, offer purses ranging up to $200,000 for the Claiming Crown Jewel on dirt and $175,000 for the Claiming Crown Emerald on turf.

The races draw from around the country and are designed to be competitive. This year, the nine races drew 113 entries whose combined running lines show performances at 55 racetracks.

The Claiming Crown is a cooperative effort of the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association and the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders’ Association. This will be the 28th running.

Otherwise, there’s action for 2-year-olds from coast to coast, and some scattered stakes events are mixed in. On the international front, turn to Japan, Bahrain and Australia.

The 2-year-olds

Saturday’s Belmont Park program features $175,000 turf sprints for 2-year-olds and 2-year-old fillies. Del Mar on Saturday has the $100,000 Desi Arnaz for 2-year-old fillies at 7 furlongs on the dirt. Sunday’s $100,000 Grade III Bob Hope is open to all juveniles at the same distance. Saturday’s Gulfstream Juvenile Sprint also is on the dirt, at 6 furlongs.

Woodbine

Saturday’s $200,000 (Canadian) Grade II bet365 Kennedy Road goes at 6 furlongs on the all-weather track. Mark Casse trains the favorites, Grade II Nearctic winner Victory Achieved and My Boy Prince, closely followed by Wesley Ward’s upwardly mobile Arbiter.

Laurel Park

Saturday’s $100,000 Thirty Eight Go Go Stakes features fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles on the dirt.

Around the world, around the clock

Japan

Sunday’s Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup at Kyoto Racecourse offers a rare meeting of three Japanese Oaks winners. Among those set to face off in the 2,200-meter race for fillies and mares are this year’s winner of the Oaks, formally the Yushun Himba, Juryoku Pierrot (JPN), the 2025 winner, Kamunyak (JPN) and the 2024 winner Cervina (JPN).

While none is a runaway favorite, Juryoku Pierrot has won all three starts since being switched from dirt to grass and used an impressive late run to land the Oaks. Hoever, she has not run since that race May 24.

Bahrain

The kingdom celebrates its first Group 1 race with Friday’s newly elevated Bahrain International Trophy and a field topped by Victorious Forever’s Wimbledon Hawkeye.

As Victorious Forever is Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa and his brother, Shaikh Khalid, the local angle is big. This is a good enough field to justify the new status.

Among the others is Lambourne, who represents Aidan O’Brien’s first chance to surpass the record he set last year for most Group/Grade 1 wins in a season. He tied that mark last month with Benvenuto Cellini’s win in the Breeders’ Cup Turf.

Several of the Bahrain runners could, with a good trip, earn a ticket to join Benvenuto Cellini in Hong Kong next month.

It’s worth noting the excellent turnout from top connections belies some concerns about air travel amid the current Middle East hostilities.

Australia

Saturday’s Group 1 C.F. Orr Stakes at Sandown has a classy bunch set to go 7 furlongs. The eight-horse field includes Beiwacht, Pericles and Angel Capital.