Here's a 100K claiming story I thought most might enjoy.
My racing partner and I claimed one for 50K a few years ago at Saratoga and earned 60K over the next 6 months including a nose loss for second in a Grade 3 at Calder. After a bad effort in another stakes, we put him in for
100K and lost him at Gulfstream.
In the meantime,my son, about age 10 at the time , had bonded with this horse. He had been exposed to plenty of others, but for some reason this guy was special to him. Believe me he was not happy with his old man. I explained the business aspect of racing to him, but that was useless.
Well, the horse was put on my watch list, but never showed up in the entries. Every week and sometimes daily for the next several months my son would ask if there was any news on "his horse." After some investigative work, I found there was an injury, followed by surgery, then another injury and finally into a sale for $3500. All this without ever racing!
Finally, after 15 months from the claim, he showed up at Penn National for $3500 and ran last by 20 lenghts as the favorite. I called the trainer the next day and asked if this horse needed to be retired. After a negotiation with the trainer and the owner, which was his mother, I bought the horse back for $1000. He was shipped out in a few days and now resides about 10 minutes from our home. My son now has "his horse" for his riding horse. Actually, he's pretty much become a member of the family with frequent visits and family grooming and happy as a horse should be.