The Claiming Game

[OldDog]

Some play it so well. For example, a horse that I watch goes off in the 8th yesterday at Hawthorne. He doesn’t win, but what catches my eye is that the winner Yukan Do It Too was claimed, and that he went off at 7-1.

http://www1.drf.com/drfNCWeeklyHorse...20411&raceNo=8

I look up his profile
http://www.equibase.com/profiles/Res...368&registry=T

and I just have to wonder what it was the made him so attractive, and why, out of all the horses in that race, he was the one that was claimed. He's a 5YO gelding who finished 5th, 2nd and 5th in his last three races. He had the same owner/trainer since he began racing in 2010. What tipped off Midwest Thoroughbreds that it was time?

[Linny]

I'm not certain in but in some cases it seems that a trainer thinks that they can improve a horse. Maybe they've seen something that they think can be changed by a bit or blinker change. Sometimes it's one that they had in the past. In NY over the winter you see some that look like the trainer claimed them to hold out for the spring turf season. Similarly you might see a trainer who keeps horses at (say) Delaware claiming a Delaware specialist out of a race at Laurel just before the Delaware meet opens.

Midwest TB's does extremely well off the claim. Not sure wht they spotted but I'd look for him to move up. Was he a "new" gelding? Maybe they let someone else do the "brain surgery" and hope to take advantage of potential to improve?

[OldDog]

I don't know . . . there's really no way to tell when he was gelded unless you know the barn, right? Thanks for your reply. I'm going to keep an eye on him from now on.

[robfla]

I also think "conditions" play a role in the claim game. If a horse has certain conditions remaining like N1X, N2X, etc they are a more viable claim. Some horses can have 5 or 6 or more wins without a non restricted allowance win, making them eligible for more lucrative purses.

[OldDog]

Ah, hadn't thought of that.

Thanks, rob.

[parsixfarms]

Taking a quick glance at Equibase link, he's an Illinois-bred with all his state-bred allowance conditions available to him. That alone might make him worth taking a shot.

[phystech]

I mainly look for 3 things when I claim - conditions, conditions, conditions. If the horse you mention has state bred conditions available, and has been knocking heads in open company, then they have a good chance to see success.

One comment about Midwest TB's - I think a lot of their "success" comes from the sheer numbers in which they claim horses. In MD, I see them taking a lot of $5k horses with date conditions (nw in 6 mos) and when they knock out the condition next time out, it's hard to find the horse again after that. While they win a lot of races, I wonder how many of their claims they don't see a return of their purchase money on. Their numbers on paper are rather gaudy but I'd love the see their balance sheet....

Oh, and I must say that their green silks sure look nice in my win photos.

[OldDog]

Thanks -- this I'm sure will help solve a lot of the "mysterious" claims that I see.

[Dunbar]

I wasn't tuned in to the conditions effect on claims. Thanks for those replies, robfla, parsix, and phystech!

--Dunbar