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named Alysweep, who we claimed out of
a maiden $75,000, won the Jimmy Wink-
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pretty much hooked after having some
success."
One of Dubb's more recent claim-
ing success stories is hard-knocking
New York-bred Royal Posse (Posse). He
claimed the bay for just $20,000 in May
of 2015 with trainer Rudy Rodriguez, and
since then the gelding has won eight of
his 17 starts, many of which were stakes,
including the $300,000 Empire Classic H.
"I do a ton of homework," said Dubb,
who spends an hour or two a night
studying claiming horses. "In claiming,
I realized that sometimes one man's
garbage is another man's gold. I know
when I claim a horse, I am looking for
something we can change or something
the other guys missed, whether it be a
change in equipment, shoeing, the way
the horse was trained or the horse sim-
ply not being happy in a particular barn."
He continued, "I always had the atti-
tude when I claimed that if I claimed 20
horses, I was hoping one would have up-
side as a stakes horse, several would win
some races and make a few dollars, and
some just wouldn't work out."
Though Dubb still puts a heavy focus
on claiming, having acquired about half
of his 100-plus horses in this manner, he
has done quite well in racing with hors-
es he obtained in other ways. His 2015
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Royal Posse (left)