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Everybody gets pumped up during the Triple
Crown run kicked off by the Kentucky Derby
but if you want to make winning bets and
get ahead in this sport, you have to have
a good gauge of how to handle claimers.
Face it, champions are few and far between
and to win money at the track, a player
must understand the lower echelon horses.
When I first started handicapping horses,
I would practice by making my selections
on paper for tracks like Charles Town,
Liberty Bell, and Penn National and then
monitor the results. Claimers dominated
the programs there then and still do.
Claimers account for about 75% of the
racing cards throughout the country. Since
they are not as sound as the better horses,
they hold their form for a shorter period
of time and are less formful as a whole.
Early speed, as with top-notch horses,
is tantamount to being successful. In the
olden days, handicapping books would advise
to bet only claimers with recent activity,
say horses that have run within a couple
of weeks or so. But in this day and age,
things have changes.
Horses, cheap ones at that, can win off
the layoff and they do it all the time.
In fact, cheap horses often fire their
best shot the first time out after a layoff.
They are not tired from the racing grind,
they are mentally sharp and whatever was
ailing them and forced them to the sidelines
may have abated - they are generally in
better physical condition when they return.
Bettors love horses that drop. It makes
all the sense in the world but horses that
drop seldom offer good value at the windows.
Players assume since they were once capable
of performing at a certain level, that
when taking a big drop down the claiming
ladder they will even be more effective.
It works sometimes, but not always and
the payoffs are usually on the small side.
I have found that one of the best and
most lucrative situations occurs when a
sharp trainer jumps his claimer up the
ladder. It tells the bettor that the trainer
thinks the horses is doing so well that
he can stand the raise.
In Southern California these days, there
are the conditioners that deal with blue
bloods and there are the guys that keep
it together by playing equine poker at
the claim box.
Just take a look at the current Del Mar
standings. Jeff Mullins was leading the
league through last Thursday and since
he cut his teeth at outposts like Boise
and Phoenix, he knows the claiming game
in and out and is super dangerous with
everything he sends out.
Art Sherman and Bill Spawr are also masters
with cheaper stock but a guy to watch for
the rest of the meeting at the beach is
Frank Monteleone. He’s been high
percentage for years and spots his claimers
superbly and he’s due to get rolling.
Of the 8 he first saddled this meet, 5
ran second.
There are many ways to approach claimers
and the game as a whole but if you know
the players who pull the strings, you have
a head start on the field.
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Posted on 8/15/2007 5:50:07 PM
Horseracing Betting - The Claim Game
By Brian Mulligan
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