claiming a horse

[sammythesage]

never done it; but interested in trying! know ragu has/does and believe gino probably too. Me thinks the hard part is finding the right trainer. Any tips on this would be greatly appreciated. Of course the big name guys are out of my league and besides I think they lose touch w/some of their horses; having so many.

 

[Cerveza]

Sammy, I've had a couple of low level claimers in Arizona and was part of a syndicate in New Zealand a few years back. It can be enjoyable, but it is an expensive hobby. Best to start small - with a few partners. Pick a trainer at a local track that you see has success with a limited amount of horses in his barn and approach him to see if there is an interest level. I had a horse at Turf Paradise that was having decent luck - three straight 2nd place finishes at the 4000 level after we claimed him for 3200 - we dropped him back down to 3200 and lost him. The new owner took him to Mountaineer and after a layoff he won a 20k claimer - go figure. It's a fun game, isn't it?

 

[BigRagu]

Sammy, if you get a small group together and like Cerv said pick a good local trainer it can be alot of fun. We claimed Canadian Edition on June 25th for 14K and Sunday ran him for the 1st time at Fort Erie for 20K, unfortunately he hopped as the gate opened and we lost all chance, he will probably run on the 26th,27th or 28th of July and at Fort Erie again. I set it up for Kevin Attard to train him, the attards have been in the game at Woodbine for over 20 Yrs and Kevin is young and will be heard of for many years to come. Before going public this year he trained alot of Stronach's local 2 yr olds and even saddled Milwaukee Brew when he won the Ohio Derby which I thought was pretty sweet.