I made a post last year about handicapping claiming races. But I realize now that I missed one of the most important aspects of a claiming race. While I mentioned several typical handicapping angles, I forgot to talk about claiming prices. A claiming race has a price or range of prices that a prospective owner can pay to claim a horse. The claim must be submitted before the race and is settled after the race is over. Claiming prices can range from $6000 to $50,000. An example would be a “Maiden Claiming $16,000” race. Each horse carries the same weight and has a claiming price of $16,000. A “Claiming $20,000 – $16,000” race means that each horse carries the same weight but has a claiming price of either $20K or $16K.
The main difference with “Allowance Optional Claiming” races is that horses can be assigned to carry different weights. From a handicapping perspective we are looking for horses that previously ran in a race with a higher claiming fee. If a horse previously ran in a $35,000 claiming race and now, they are entered in a $20,000 claiming race, they would have an advantage against horses who previously ran at the $20,000 level. The claiming level is a more accurate gage of class than the purse. I often see $50K and $35K claiming races with the same purse money. In order to find the previous claiming level, you need to look at past performance data for each horse.
You sometimes hear race commentators say things like “the horse is dropping in class” or “dropping in for a tag”. This means that the owner had previously run the horse at a higher claiming price or in a non-claiming race. If the horse is in good form (having raced recently), then running them against weaker competition will be an advantage. Look for horses who are going from MDN (Maiden) to MCL (Maiden claiming) or going from ALW (Allowance) to CLM (Claiming) races. As with everything, the price of an item is a good measure of quality. The same goes for racehorses.
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