Contact Owner?

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texas tea
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Contact Owner?

Postby texas tea » Thu Aug 29, 2013 8:16 pm

I was attempting to claim a horse at the Del Mar meet. The horse scratched but I am still interested in purchasing the horse. I made an offer to the trainer and he turned down the offer. Trainer wants the claiming price. I want to purchase for less, as there is a reason the track vet scratched the horse. I suspect that the trainer is not passing my offer to the owner and turning down my offers on his own. Should I attempt to go around the trainer and contact the owner ? Any way to obtain the owner's contact number through one of the tracks he races at or is that confidential information held by the track. I know as an owner I would like my trainer to contact me if a person was making an offer on one of my horses.
Horse does not fit the profile of the owner's racing stable which is substantial ( in the number of horses owned and raced at various tracks throughout the US ).
Thanks,
texas tea

Jane
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Postby Jane » Fri Aug 30, 2013 3:26 am

The reason for the vet scratch might not be a big deal (like a fever or colic), if I thought the horse was capable of a good run then I wouldn't sell him either. The claim price and a chance at winning the race would double up my money.

If they are willing to sell him for the full claim price then I assume you could vet him? That would be a big bonus and it might be worth paying more for.

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Postby JimP » Fri Aug 30, 2013 4:31 am

Texas Tea I would want to know if there was an offer on one of my
horses but I am small time and maybe the big outfits don't care to be
bothered.
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Jessi P
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Postby Jessi P » Fri Aug 30, 2013 11:20 am

Just because equibase says "vet scratch" DOES NOT mean there is anything wrong with the horse. They might have decided not to run in that particular race after scratch time, in which case it may have been discovered the horse had a low grade temp, didnt eat up, coughed a couple times - any of those "excuses" when presented by a vet will allow you to scratch.

You have to remember that when buying a horse, the owner wants (and usually needs) to make the most profit possible. If I had a horse who was running for (lets say) $5k - and it is a good fit for the $5k meaning it is liable to get claimed (and logically hit the board or win), I would never want to sell that horse for less than it can earn by running in that 5k claiming race and getting claimed ($5k claiming tag +$4-7k winners purse depending on condition). If you offered me $4k for this hypothetical horse I wouldn't even bother to tell you "No thank you" because anyone knowledgeable about the racing and claiming game knows that any horse WORTH CLAIMING for $5k is worth the claiming price PLUS what he could realistically earn in that race, so if I have this hypothetical $5k claimer I am probably going to say "Give me $7500 for him or feel free to claim him next time out." Often times people forget that racing for $5k doesnt mean it's only worth $5k (using $5k hypothetically here). I wish you all the best - good luck!!
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hpkingjr
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Trainer

Postby hpkingjr » Fri Aug 30, 2013 12:23 pm

The trainer is getting $75.00 per day for the horse. Every week is another five hundred in his pocket. The horse leaves it screws up his cash flow.
Give the Pope and the King of England a horse and in thirty days, they'll be stealing halters.

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Diane
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Postby Diane » Fri Aug 30, 2013 2:20 pm

Texas Tea if you really want the horse and the trainer rejected your offer? Your offer was too low. The price of the race most likely might be the price of an older experienced horse that has already proven himself. If you are looking at a younger less experienced horse that the connections have higher hopes for? You're going to have to ask what the price is and then decide if it's worth it to you. It's DelMar. Compare it to Saratoga. People like having a horse at DelMar just to go see it work and hope it gets into 2 races during the meet. You might wait a bit and watch where the horse goes next.

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Postby Jeff » Fri Aug 30, 2013 2:58 pm

Texas Tea

If you want to go around the trainer and contact the owner yourself to make an offer- go ahead and do it. You know who the owner is, if you don't have the phone# go to one of the website's like whitepages that might have the phone# listed, or for a small fee will make the owner's phone# available to you.

The trainer is an employee of the owner. As an employee of the owner he has every obligation to pass on cash offers.

If you are going to claim a horse in a race, be discreet about it and don't let everybody in the country know before hand. Those poor trainers are living hand to mouth and if you claim one of their nags they go broke and hungry until they can get another owner paying them the day rate

If he's a $5,000 claimer, you probably didn't offer to low of a price, you probably offered what the owner will take.

The trainer is scraping and posturing for his own interest, his interest of keeping that horse and getting that day rate money, watch out, he might do just about anything to keep that horse.

Jeff

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Postby Jeff » Fri Aug 30, 2013 3:06 pm

also, about 1/2 the time all the trainers at a meet will be in cahoots with each other and if one trainer has a client interested in claiming another trainer's horse, he might give him a heads up so that he can scratch the horse before the race. They can be little crooks when it suits their interest, they play I'll let you know if somebody's gonna claim one of yours if you'll let me know if someobody's gonna claim one of mine thing going on backside politics.

1/2 the time horse trainers are getting a social security check before they reach retirement age, yet they don't have any trouble working for themselves at the track. What a lot.

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Postby Sylvie Hebert » Fri Aug 30, 2013 4:49 pm

I have to agree with Diane and Jeff on that one,sadly...
The sport and industry survive not only because of the champions that are remembered forever but also because of the losers that are so easy to forget...

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Joltman
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Postby Joltman » Fri Aug 30, 2013 5:57 pm

I've contacted the Racing Sec's office to get the info. Sometimes they'll give sometimes not.

jm
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