What Is A Claiming Race?

A claiming race is a race where all the horses are for sale except from the winner. This is a great way for trainers to take on board new horses and often at great prices. All the horses in a claiming race have a set price which is set by the trainer.

As soon as the race starts the new owner owns the horse. After the race is complete as long as the horse didn’t win the race, the payments are transferred and the sale is completed.

If more than one owner puts a claim on the horse then it gets interesting. There is then a draw, basically picking a name from a hat and this decides on who will claim the horse.

There are many different rules to claiming races that must be taken into consideration. If a horse is injured during a race then the claim is often void, this obviously happens on very rare occasions but is insurance for the buyer.

When putting a bid in for a claimer the buyer is not able to check over thoroughly the horse, it’s a case of you get what you see. No medical checks can be done on the buyers behalf so trust is a very big thing in claiming races.

Claiming races have a lot of advantages. It’s a great way for owners/trainers to sell a horse quickly with minimal effort. It’s also a great way to get horses at a good price and often quality horses that just need a bit of work in training. Obviously a lot of the top horses do not race in claiming races due to the risk of being sold. But winning a claimer race is very profitable, whether you win the prize money or sell your horse at a price you want.

A lot of racing enthusiasts who want to get into horse racing on a low budget can benefit from claiming races. There are often some very cheap claims which is a great step into becoming an owner. It can be a very good investment if you buy the right horse and a claiming race is a great way to buy a horse with previous form before buying.