Listenupshance - Adam Kluger (Run Fast Racing) and Craig Dado (Great Friends Stables)

Listenupshance

Music executive Adam Kluger has come a long way from sneaking into the dog track in Tampa Bay to bet on simulcasting from Tampa Bay Downs. Less than two months after hooking up with Craig Dado’s Great Friends Stable, he was in the winner’s circle at Del Mar after their Listenupshance captured the Gr.1 Bing Crosby Stakes July 25th. Two months later, he was back after Listenupshance added the Gr.2 Santa Anita Sprint Championship.

That wouldn’t have happened had a $10,000 claimer at Del Mar a year earlier been full, denying Listenupshance, a horse Kluger bought for $30,000 after he won a maiden $20,000 claimer, a spot. Instead, trainer Doug O’Neil put Listenupshance in an $80,000 grass allowance, one he won by a nose in his turf debut. Switched back to dirt, he became a star.

Why would Kluger have put his $30,000 horse in a $10,000 claimer? That’s a pretty good story.

Kluger’s story began in north Tampa