List of North America's top 100 race winners in 2007

bdw0617 · Postby **bdw0617** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 12:34 am

might sound sily, but when do you claim a horse? I was under the impression you claimed a horse when you believe you can improve on it.

let's say you have a horse that is a 40k claimer. he's a tried and true 40k claimer and the owner runs him at 40k. he competes.

do you claim a horse at 40k that is a bonefied 40k claimer?

geowarrior · Postby **geowarrior** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 12:39 am

Raving Rocket was claimed for 4k off the partnership stable I was formerly a member of (Raving Rocket wasn't one of my partnership horses). He was a stakes winner and then was off for a year for health reasons. They returned him at the 4k level and he was second first time out. Then they put him in a starter allowance and he didn't place. Back to 4k and he was claimed by the current connections. He's been run in starter allowance races ever since and kept protected and I think his conditions may run out at the end of the year also. It is nice to see connections that really want to keep a horse.

I have to say that was another really boneheaded financial decision by my former partnership stable. They paid a year's worth of money to keep him at the farm then didn't have enough patience to keep going with him. 4k was all they got back.

Rokeby Forever · Postby **Rokeby Forever** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 12:49 am

bdw0617 wrote:do you claim a horse at 40k that is a bonefied 40k claimer?

Absolutely! In NY, the purse for a $40,000 claimer is $48,000. If I simply jam a bonafide $40,000 claimer down everyone's throat for $40,000 and it wins 2 races, I'm out with the horse and the rest is gravy. If I get a win with the horse and I lose it for the $40,000 I paid, so what - I made a profit and move on to the next horse. That's my idea of playing the game.

Claiming trainers, unless you claim off an idiot, are generally sharp - it's not likely that a horse will vastly improve (in an honest world, anyway). The idea is to first claim something worth the money, and then if it improves, you've gotten lucky. If you claim something worth what you've paid, you shouldn't get hurt with the horse if you race it where it shows it can win.

Make sense?

bdw0617 · Postby **bdw0617** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 12:58 am

that's too much crap to remember. so you are saying that if i see a 40k claimer that runs good, he really isn't a 40k claimer?

Rokeby Forever · Postby **Rokeby Forever** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 1:02 am

No, BDW. I'm saying that you make money in this business by running horses where they can win. If there's a hard knocking $40,000 claimer, claim him and keep running him for the $40,000 that he's worth. The purses are high enough so that a horse doesn't have to do much to pay itself out, and if the horse wins and you lose the horse for the $40,000 that you paid, you have a profit. It's too easy to lose money in this business - when you can make money, do it!

ageecee · Postby **ageecee** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 6:19 am

BDW,

Go buy a racing form that has Hollywood in it and check out the horses that have been claimed in the form. Check and see after they have been claimed what they went on to do and for what price. It will give you an idea of how the claiming game is played. Where to run them? Drop them? Up them? What trainers were they claimed off of and did they improve?

Tucumcari · Postby **Tucumcari** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 10:44 am

Like I said, some people do it well with chemistry and others don't.
Look at first off of the claim percentage. Some people are a HUGE number others aren't.
Carava for years has been at 16-17 percent, not too shabby. BUT he's a horseman and they often do go on. Epic Power was a claim that he went on to do well with. If they don't, the horse is likely no good. Mullins first off the claim is 25 percent. They may go up they may go down, but not because he isn't a horseman. That is something he is.
There are people whose horses are just plain used up when they are done with them, those are the people you either look for really early with a horse or walk a wide circle around at the claim box.
You do your homework, get a feel for each trainer and their "program" and you can have alot of success. IMO

UmmYeah · Postby **UmmYeah** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 11:54 am

How is this even possible?

Joy's Toy 11 7 0 0 $7,457

Where do you run where you only average $1K per win? Even the bushes have better purses than that?

Foggytrip · Postby **Foggytrip** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 12:03 pm

Panama

Green Hills · Postby **Green Hills** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 12:24 pm

Well...I'll be...here we go and sell Kristali...and he makes the list....imagine that....

UmmYeah · Postby **UmmYeah** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 12:39 pm

Foggytrip wrote:Panama

Nope. A quick google search turned up results from Dayton, Washington. My guess would be the other six races were at the fairs in Idaho or Eastern Washington. But, boy, after a few wins, wouldn't you try a higher level? Maybe that's what the four losses were, I guess...

Rokeby Forever · Postby **Rokeby Forever** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 12:44 pm

Panama. LOL!

Remember when Robert Perez was buying all those horses from Panama to run in the Triple Crown races? I think Malthus had 6 or 7 wins and $3,000 in earnings when he ran in the Preakness.

ageecee · Postby **ageecee** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 1:05 pm

Most of those fairs the purses are 1K or $1500. The winner sshare is $900 so thats why the low earnings for winning 7 races.

geowarrior · Postby **geowarrior** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 1:09 pm

Where the hell is Dayton Washington and why don't I know that there's racing there?