Class distinction

[nybill88]

I have a 40 year old book written by Aaron Bernstein. In this book he details an excellent speed formula for Harness Racing. The name of the book is "Beating the Harness Races", Mr B. resided in the chicago area and was a frequent writer in American Turf Monthly. In this book there is a point allotment for going up or down the class ladder. I am unfamiliar with the different classifications of races, naturally the claiming ladder is easy but the condition races throw me off. Is there a book or website that I could go to that would explain this to me. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Bill

[wilderness]

I have a 40 year old book written by Aaron Bernstein. In this book he details an excellent speed formula for Harness Racing. The name of the book is "Beating the Harness Races", Mr B. resided in the chicago area and was a frequent writer in American Turf Monthly. In this book there is a point allotment for going up or down the class ladder. I am unfamiliar with the different classifications of races, naturally the claiming ladder is easy but the condition races throw me off. Is there a book or website that I could go to that would explain this to me. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Bill

If you provided some examples of the "classes" used in examples, that would help?

In the 40's and 50's (and before conditioned races) horses were grouped into classes based on lifetime winnings.
NY and many of the other eastern based tracks later added letter coding to races and horses were assigned into a class by the race secretary and many other conditions as well. (Much the same as the classes that dogs use today in their overnight events.)

I have some of both examples in my archives. The first that comes to mind is from 1949.
The 1st edition book by Tom Ainslie (may be found cheap in many online used bookstores or eBay [perhaps under $5.) has some race cards in the back with a variety of conditions and Ainslie provided extensive explantion in one of the chapters as well.

Some of the US Fairs still uses non-winning lifetime conditions for their overnight-non-stake events.

[Tom]

NYbill....welcome to the forum.
I have that book - really good stuff.
Your question is excellant - harness conditions can be trickey.
Maybe we can convince some our harness experts to help us out here.
I hace to really read the conditions to get a handle on them...

NW7500L5 AE $5,000 clainimg, FM allowed 20%

Huh?????

Maybe we can look at some races live and talk about them.
Anyone interested, pick a night and track.

[wilderness]

NYbill....welcome to the forum.
I have that book - really good stuff.
Your question is excellant - harness conditions can be trickey.
Maybe we can convince some our harness experts to help us out here.
I hace to really read the conditions to get a handle on them...

NW7500L5 AE $5,000 clainimg, FM allowed 20%

Huh?????

Maybe we can look at some races live and talk about them.
Anyone interested, pick a night and track.

Non-Winners $7,500 last "5" races; AE $5,000 Claimers: Fillies and Mares allowed an additional 20% in earnings.
end of quote

There were also "standard" age allowances that were not mentioned here that were apllied to a ALL races. 2YO's, 2YOFillies, 3YO, 3YO Fillies, 4YO, 4YOMares.
So some of these numbers I do not recall from memory and would need to reference.
4YO males is 25%.
3YO males (I believe) was 50%
2YO males was 60 or 75%
Females were allowed an additional 15 or 20%; thus a 4YO mare was 40% on both earnings and claiming prices.

[wilderness]

NYbill....welcome to the forum.

Maybe we can look at some races live and talk about them.
Anyone interested, pick a night and track.

The easiest track for this would be Windsor Raceway.
The program pages (Past Performances) are downloadable for FREE:
http://www.windsorraceway.com/programs.asp

The Live races are broadcast for FREE.
http://www.windsorraceway.com/index.asp?qsPageName=VideoStreaming&qsTid=1

Of course Windsor doesn't have the quality of horses that the Meadowlands has, however your/our interest is in basically learning race line fundamentals.

[nybill88]

Generally at all tracks who recieves an allowance in claiming races. E.G. do fillies recieve 20% allowance in their claiming price. Bill

[wilderness]

Generally at all tracks who recieves an allowance in claiming races. E.G. do fillies recieve 20% allowance in their claiming price. Bill

Yes. (In the US).

And this does NOT have to be written in the specific race conditions.
The same with the 2- 3- and 4YO allowances.

EX: (Download tonights race card for Windsor) [Imperative that you keep in mind that Canadian rules regarding allowances and other procedures may be different from US rules]:
http://www.windsorraceway.com/programs/0422-wr.pdf

In the 1st race (a 5k claimer) every mare in the race is listed with claiming price above their post position as $6,250 (25%).
The conditons of the race are as follows:
FILLIES & MARES -- Claiming price $5,000 (allowances for age & sex). For non-winners $1,500 last 5 starts.
end of quote

Were there any 4YO Mares, they would be given an additional allowance. Same applies if any 2YO- and 3YO Fillies were entered.

The 4th race on the same card is a much better example for our use.
In this race, horse are in a 12,500 claimer, however:
#1 gets a 50% 3YO allowance of 6,250 overall 18,750
#2 gets a 25% 4YO allowance of 3,125 overall 15,625
#5 gets both a 4YO and a MARES Allowance (25% each for a total of 50%) overall 18,750.

These same horses in this race (5th) could receive the same age and sex allowances in their earnings [For non-winners 2 (Fillies & Mares 3) races lifetime or non-winners $25,000 (Fillies & Mares $30,000) lifetime.]
In addition, many of the Ontario tracks have been adding additional allowances on earnings for Ontario sired.


Years ago, all these explanations of allowances and race conditions were published in each program purchased. Today much has been removed from the programs and even a lesser number of race lines being offered as well.

[wilderness]

The 10th race at Woodbine on 4/17 are example of age allowances that are in the specific race conditions.

The specific conditions of the race are as follows:
5 YEAR OLDS & YOUNGER, NW 2 RACES OR $15,000 LIFETIME.

Yuylovepebblebeach (#2) [a 3YO] had the following earnings:
2006 1 0 0 0 $850
2005 11 2 2 1 $18,070

the horse exceeds both the NW of 2 races and the 15K lifetime, however gets in under the 3YO Allowance of 50% in earnings being increased to 22,5000.
Possibly even an Ontario Sired allowance which may not be specified in the NON-Ontario OPEN race.

Shadowwavekillean (#4) [a 3YO] had the following earnings:
2006 1 1 0 0 $4,450
2005 10 2 2 2 $19,654
the horse exceeds both the NW of 2 races and the 15K lifetime.
"Could" have been allowed in under either the Ontario Sired allowance or "Elgible at time of entry" (the horse could have been entered at Woodbine, prior to the win at London on 4/12.)


Some other allowances to consider?
Some jurisdictions give allowances for "PM" or Pari-mutuel races. Thus a horse could have won an amount far exceeding the race conditions, however get in against a soft field because the money was won in non-wagering races.

I recall seeing Illinois races and conditions where purse winnings were not considered below a specific limit (Races with purses of lesser than 3k).
This "might" similar to those crappy T-Bred Allowance races for Non-winners of one race below a specifc purse (Aqueduct in the winter/spring and Belmont in the early meets use to offer these types of races every year).
Or in some T-Bred instances where claiming race winnings are not considered as winnings at ALL in Allowance race conditions.

I recall making some killings at the track in the early 70's at Hazel Park T-Breds in which the race conditions were something link(in fact it was the same year that Big-Red had all his 3YO Glory):

Non-winners of a race at one-mile or over in the previous or current year.
These horses were a terrible quality and I was keying on younger horses that were stretching out from 6-furlongs to one-mile and had shown a preference for off-tracks.

[Tom]

Grat thread, Don - thanks for the thoughtful replies.

[wilderness]

One other note:

I'm not sure of the publication date of Bernstein's book (40 years is 1966).

Into the late 70's and early 80's, Class structure in harness racing was directly related to the horses capability of racing within a specific time. 2:08 horses rarely raced oustide very minimal purses and Classes.

Today, although speed and time must be considered in race analysis, it's just not as important a distinction for Class as it was previously. (I personally don't care for this change.)

Tracks foundations, soil, drainage, banking of surfaces and even equipment and horses have made it so a relatively "cheap" horse that will neither sustain longevity in appearances or earnings will provide a fast time. This just didn't happen years ago.

IMO personal opinion, the passing lanes is one of the worse changes in harness racing (the majority do not agree with this).

Racing laws have changed as to where a trainer/driver is actually cheating (by not trying 100%) if he trains his horse into peak condition and keeps a bit of his horse in reserve for either another day or to prevent injury and over-exertion of his horse. It's an asinine law.

Trainers (both T-Bred and S-Bred) have been training their horses in live races to peak since the inception of horse racing.
In most instances part of handicapping the races was in realizing that some horses were just "in reserve" and only had a chance for a minor share of the purse and not even a chance at all.
One example might be a T-Bred mile that desire to give his horse some
speed (the horse has only shown previous good performances in short races) . The horse a 20k claimer racing at an A Circuit.
The trainer enters the horse in a 50 or 100k claimer at one-mile.
Naturally the horse goes to the top and fades big-time in after the half or three-quarters.

Has the trainer-owner-jockey cheated or defrauded anybody?
Perhaps a newcomer to wagering.
Should these folks be fined for these types of things?
Possibly?

These T-Bred excpetions do not normally exist in harness racing as the majority of races are all at the same distance, however when a trainer tells a driver to "take-em-to-the-top" or the driver decides this strategy on his own!
When either knows fulll and well that the horse does not have the capability to sustain the speed for the entire race!
Have they defrauded the wagering public when the horse finsihes up the field?