Mastering Claiming Races With Horse Racing Handicapping

Author:

Bill Peterson

Since most of the horse races you will encounter during any meet at almost any track will be claiming races, it is a good idea to focus your efforts on them and to master them if at all possible.  But claiming races do have their own special sets of challenges, so it is a good idea to think about what characteristics are common in claiming races.

The first challenge a claiming race might present is a horse or horses moving up or down in class.  While horses usually move down off a loss and up off a win or claim, that isn\'t always the case.  Some trainers will claim a horse that finished third in a $10,000 claimer and successfully move it up and win in a $14,000 claimer.

Other trainers are not so skilful and often claim a horse then start dropping it down the ladder until they finally get the win.  When you handicap a horse race, it doesn\'t matter which way the horse is moving, as long as you understand the trainer\'s moves and can put a fair value on them.  The biggest mistake you can make when handicapping a claiming race is to think that the horses will keep their form from race to race.

They aren\'t in a claiming race, especially a cheap claiming race, because they are healthy and able to sustain a winning form.  Of all the races at a race track, the claiming races are the most demanding for a trainer and any man or woman who can patch the platers up good enough to get his or her fair share of wins deserves a fair amount of respect.  While the bettors may not understand that, the other trainers do.

I\'ve seen a top level trainer ask a trainer who never had anything, but cheap claimers in his barn to take a look at a horse and give an opinion about its condition.  The conditioners who make a living with horses at the bottom of the heap have to know how to treat many ailments and bring horses back into form as quickly s possible.  That kind of knowledge about horses is very valuable on the backstretch.

Therefore, if you want to master claiming races the first thing you have to do is understand each trainer and then, look for improvements from the good ones and expect the fair ones to win off a drop or two.  The one advantage you will have over the crowd is that they usually expect things to stay the same with the claimers from race to race and they seldom do.

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About the Author

If you want to learn how a horse owner and insider handicaps just go to http://williewins.homestead.com/truecb.html and get the truth. Bill Peterson is a former horse race owner and professional handicapper. To see all Bill\'s horse racing material go to Horse Racing Handicapping, Bill\'s handicapping store.