Lowest Claimers Make Best Bets
Claiming Races offer a Good Winning Pool for Calculated Bets
The betting player who pays attention to details in his claiming race thoroughbred participants can come out with a winning card. Weights and rivals also count.
Betting on a thoroughbred claimer requires patience and a good eye on the part of a player.
Claiming races are the lowest rung of the competitive racing ladder for thoroughbreds. In the $3,000 to $7,500 claiming price range, they may also be the bread and butter bet for the player who regularly places bets.
A claiming race allows a prospective buyer to claim for a pre-arranged price a horse entered in the run. A low claiming figure, typically under $8,000, means a betting player can eliminate much of the field by observing the fluctuations, or variables inherently present.
Many of the racers in low priced contests could be less than totally sound. In addition, observing the interactions of these charges' trainers can clue a player to best bets. Most of the contestants can be considered improbable winners if a player simply applies these two basic, process of elimination strategies.
Which horses are left after the player's equation is realized are likely winners. As the claiming price increases, so does the likelihood of sounder stock and the presence of more confident trainers. Consequently, the betting game gets a bit more difficult.
Thoroughbreds in the $10,000 claiming range may be more consistent winners in like company. At this level, many horses may have stepped up to start in allowance races against better competitors, then returned as entries in the claiming ranks.
The player will have a harder time getting a read on a possible winner. It will also be more difficult to evaluate the handicapper's choices. If a horse isn't drawing bets because his winning on several levels hasn't been reliably established, a player can't read a handicap placing as a true indication of the animal's ability.
When the results of handicapping place several thoroughbreds with an even chance to win, the player is left in a quandry. However, skilled observations can help the player make an educated guess at a winner.
Perhaps four animals have been equally handicapped. Then one is scratched. A player who watches closely may observe some out-of-sort antics in the contestants' paddock. Which animal seems more, or less focused? The player eliminates the unfocused individual. Now two horses are taken out of the winner's circle. Who is fidgeting? Who is calm? What trainer is responding to what antics? The player keeps eliminating accordingly.
Is the claimer fitted with blinkers, or some other change of equipment this time around? Has there been a change of riders? Is the assigned jockey a known name?
This criteria of close observation can be the difference between placing a winning, or a losing bet. Much is in the eye of the beholder.
Weights assigned for claimers vary, which can affect how a player might judge his bet. A lower priced claimer usually will be less weighted, which boosts the horse's chances to win. Horses who have won less than their competitors could also receive a lesser weight. Carrying less weight is normally an advantage, although the handicapper's goal is to weight in such a manner that all entrants might reach the wire together. Similarly, the distances of claiming races are purposefully varied.
These variables ensure every stable has a chance to place all animals in a race of equal competition, giving individuals an opportunity to build a modest winning record. For the player, close attention to all factors involved in the racing of thoroughbreds can pay dividends. The player's guesstimate of possible winners can be deftly sorted out by realizing the field is not top notch. It is inferior by degrees. It many times includes previously injured individuals.
Claimers as a class certainly are not necessarily the lowest animals in thoroughbred circles. In the 1930s, a claimer became known as Seabiscuit. The bay caught the eye of buyer Tom Smith, and the legend of a Man o' War cast off began.
More recently, Lava Man, purchased after a California claiming race by trainer Doug O'Neill, became the richest claimer in history when he ran to victory this season in his second straight Santa Anita Handicap (gr. l). The win pushed Lava Man's lifetime earnings to over $4,600,000.
The lowest claiming price race can feature the best bet of a player's day. It could also reveal a sliver of gold hidden beneath iron hooves.
