Claim??
I know literaly nothing about horse, so this might be stupid. But, can you just walk up to someone and be like "hey Im buying your horse, heres a check"? That seems kind *beep* to me.
shareBefore the race, anyone with a stable can place a claim on a horse (not sure exactly where to place it, but I think with the stewards?), and regardless of whether the horse wins or loses, that stable takes the horse home afterwards. If more than one person places a claim on a horse, they do a draw to determine who gets the horse.
"Mares are from Venus, Stallions are from Mars, and Geldings are from Heaven."
so the owner of the horse doesnt get any say in this at all? That almost seems like stealing to me.
shareThe owner is the one who PUT the horse in the claiming race. That's right, some races are claiming races, others aren't. You don't want your horse claimed, don't enter it in a claiming race. There are also Optional Claiming races where you have the option to put your horse up for a claim or not.
"Mares are from Venus, Stallions are from Mars, and Geldings are from Heaven."
He doesn't get a say because the race's conditions include putting all entries available for sale. If you have a really good horse then you don't put them in a claiming race, you put them in an allowance race or a stakes race.
shareWeren't there any non-claiming races available then? I don't get why he put his precious horse in a claiming race.
sharehe put her in a claiming race because he thought it would be an easy win for her. the quality of horses in a claiming race are much lower than in an allowance or stakes, and since his filly used to be a stakes horse, he figured she'd win easily. he assumed that since she was injured so badly, no one would want to claim an unsound horse. obviously he was wrong. in real life, no one would put a filly of her caliber into a claiming race...even if she never wins another race, she would be very valuable as a broodmare just because of her pedigree.
shareshe was worthless as a broodmare though. she was barren. thats why they even considered racing her again. her going into a claiming race is probably the most likely scenario in the whole movie.
shareOther people don't know she was worthless as a broodmare, all they see is an incredibly bred filly in for a tag. If they didn't have time to get the backstory of her being unable to breed, they'd be jumping to claim her.
shareOkay, just one question, Guaili, and I'd appreciate your help. You seem to know something about this procedure, and I know zip. When the guy came up to Kurt Russell and said "Claim!", Dakota asked her dad -- aside from all the anger issues -- how much he had sold her for. He said, "$20,000." Was that her dad's price or the buyer's? I'm thinking that despite what's already been posted here about the owner having no say in the matter, he can still state a price for the horse when he first enters it into a claiming race just in the possibility that somebody might claim the horse after the race, right?
shareHe can ??? He is the one who actualy states the price.
Though the thing is . . . . once stated ( before the race ), he cannot change the price later.
"With great power. . comes . . . great responsibilty".
The claiming price is the same for all horses in the race.
My aunt is a trainer down in Florida and once when I went to the race track with her she explained the claiming process.
First, you must go to a steward before the race with a valid trainers license. You have to pay in cash and if more than one trainer is interested in the horse they draw lots. After that you can't back out of the claim, even if the horse collapses during the race and is euthanized.
Personally, I would never put a stakes-winner in a claiming race. A lower level allowance would have been far more appropriate. Or an optional claiming.