Archive for the ‘Horse Racing’ Category

You’ve probably heard this said before, “These horses have raced so many times against each other, it’s just a matter of whose turn it is to win. They just take turns.”

On any racing circuit there are certain horses who always seem to wind up in the same races. Usually this occurs with claimers or cheap handicap races. First one horse from the group will win and then another one of the horses will win and it really does seem like the trainers are taking turns, but that usually isn’t the case. What is actually happening is that the horses are so evenly matched that a minor advantage is all it takes for one of them to win.

Many times in these races, the favorite fails. That is good news for an astute handicapper, but before we get too excited about the possibility of winning, let’s be honest with ourselves. This is one of the toughest races to handicap because they have all shown that they are capable at this level.

Another problem is that we can’t read their minds to know which one is feeling its best and which one will get a good break, etc. So how do you handicap this race? First of all, there are many times when you should pass a race like this because it really is too close to call. On the other hand, look for value. If a horse has won at this level against this group, why can’t it do it again? If the odds are right, go for it.

The truth is that the trainers and other insiders often don’t have a clue as to which horse will win a race like that, but put their horse in because they know that given a break or in the right circumstances, their horse can win.

Claiming races are often seen as the bottom of the barrel in thoroughbred racing. These are races where someone can claim (or buy) any horse running in the race for the appointed claiming price.

The higher the claiming price, usually, the better the horse. If you have horse that runs in $60k claiming races going against a horse that runs in $8k claiming races – more often than not the $60k horse will win. That’s a very broad brush stroke explanation but for the purposes of this article it’s all you really need.

Now here are 3 tips you can use to make some money at the claiming races. While nothing is 100% or guaranteed, these tips really work and sometimes can bring in big priced winners.

Tip #1: The Double Drop. This one is very powerful. What you are going to look for are horses that have one or both of their last two races for a claiming price DOUBLE of today’s race. So if today’s claiming race has horses available for $5,000 and a horse has been running for $10,000 or more this one is a play. A really good play would be a horse that has been finishing last but flashing a little bit of speed early in the race.

Tip #2: Follow the claimed horses. A claimed horse means it was purchased, this is noted by a small letter C next to the price. One great angle is to look for a horse purchased and runs about 2-3 races above the amount claimed for and runs bed. Then moves back to or below the original claiming price. This is a powerful angle!

Tip #3: First time into a claiming race. In this angle you will look for a horse or horses running in a claiming race but have never done so before. The should have been running in Allowance races or any race where they were not for sale. If this race is the first time they are “running for a tag” meaning into a claiming race, you have a great play. Look for horses going to post at 3-1 odds or more. You will enjoy some nice wins using this horse racing tip!