Question about Class

[Dave Mark]

Does anyone have advice for comparing claiming races with allowance races?

Example:
Churchill Downs $25,000 claimer
Churchill Downs 18,000 ALW

My interest is generally speaking, what would the Allowance horse be equal to in claiming price?
$18,000 $30,000 $36,000 or what?

Thanks,

Dave

[JustRalph]

The question about Class always throws me. I think you really have to know the track the horse has been running at to really answer your question. A $6.5k claimer at Mountaineer seems to be a better race than a 12k claimer at some other tracks I see. But the 6.5k claimer at MTR usually has a full field of 10 or 12 horses also. I can cite an example of where I had to answer this question yesterday.

Belmont card: 5th race
I am checking the card off and on throughout the day. Playing in between some chores etc. I run my equisim program a few different ways and it shows the 12 horse can run with this group providing he comes back to form after one bad race out of 6 this year. The horse is entered in a $56K allowance today. Two back he beat 100k claimers at Aquaduct. The last time out in a stakes race at Mth he ran poorly but the notes are : "Checked into far turn". I throw that one out and he can compete with this group on the watch and in class. The Equisim program puts him within a length of the favorite if you throw out the last race. I watch as the public is letting him go at 29-1. I figure a 100k claimer has got to be a pretty good race at Aqu and this 56k allowance has got to be pretty close or inferior class wise. I drop 20 across and put him on top of the two favorites in a tri key. He comes off the pace and wins by a nose at 29-1 and I get the tri too.

Now truth be known, I don't usually play belmont. I don't know whether Aqu or Belmont are classier than the other in allowance company or claiming. I took an educated guess and scored. I could have been right, or just lucky. But I would love to be able to flip open some kind of document that could answer this question. Any tips are appreciated.

[cj]

Dave,

You have to know the track, they all have their own relationships, and even better yet, learn the horses, as the dynamics can change throughout the season. A good starting point would be a good set of par times.

CJ

[kgonzales]

In their May 2002 issue, meadows racing monthly published a chart equating Allowance and Maiden races to claiming prices at most tracks. You can find it at: www.trpublishing.com