Who should I claim?

[Shacopate]

Looking to claim a horse for about 5,000
willing to go up to about 8,000. Does anybody have a suggestion? As you may have guessed, I'm an new to the game, willing to travel. I ALSO HEARD YOU GUYS WERE PRETTY SHARP! Any suggestions will be considered.

[Suff]

Your familiar with Barn fee's, Exercise Fee's, Hot walk Fee's, medical fee's, Horsemans benelovent Fees, Jockey injury Fund Fee's and I'm gonna charge you to walk in my barn Fees?

After you drop the 5 grand and get the Horse stalled, Bend over and get comfortable, Cuz your about to be made love to.

[keilan]

Sufferin -- that about sums it up!!

[JustRalph]

Skip the Claim and go buy an Airplane! Everything I hear about owning a horse reminds me of when I owned an airplane. Exchange these words: Vet=Mechanic. FAA= Trainer.
Misc. Landing and flight fee's= Small expenses that crop up!

You will have more fun with a small plane. Although they do cost about 7 times what your horse will cost. You will have more fun with the plane I think? But then again it might be harder to kill yourself with the horse

[IRISHLADSTABLE]

The best way for a new owner to come into this business is to claim a horse.Assuming the horse comes out the race from which
you claimed it, with no problems you';re ok. You can run the horse back in 7-10 days . Here are a few things to consider.

1- Which ever track to decide to claim dont claim at the cheapest level.
2- The reason for this is if you want to drop the horse in class
because it cant win at the ( ex 5,000 level) your stuck.
3- Dont worry about the blood lines ( sire/ dam) , at that level
it's not important.
4-Look for a horse that has a lots of starts, and a high % of itm.

ILS

Jimmy

[smf]

Five thousand bucks will buy an awful lot of beer, cigarette papers and nights with hookers. Who needs a horse?

[ranchwest]

Originally posted by smf
Five thousand bucks will buy an awful lot of beer, cigarette papers and nights with hookers. Who needs a horse?

Not to mention a lot of $2 tickets. :)

[t.martin]

hey shacopate,
Ilive in lexington as well. Where do you play.

[Show Me the Wire]

Schacopate:

First, you should find a trainer you feel comfortable with before you try and find a horse. Second take ILS’ advice about not claiming at the lowest level. Third figure out your break-even point based on purse structure and your anticipated purchase price (lowest level anticipated for horse to win).

Learn as much about the business before you invest. This item is probably good advice before you make any type of investment. Also, you should understand race horses are not pets, but athletes and commodities and need to be treated accordingly.

Regards,
Show Me the Wire

There are many realities.

[karlskorner]

If you are really interested in getting involved in the business of racing horses I suggest you go to Cindy Pierson's site

www.horse-races.net/

On the left scroll down to Partnership & Owners

Since you are new to this, a partnership or syndicate IMHO is the best way to start, such as Team Valor or other partnerships. There are many advantages, namely a share of a high priced claimer or Alw horse, rather than a lowly $5k loser. Spend a year or two learning everything you can, look for a limited partnership, where your only investment is the original $5k, in time you will have garnered enough education to strike out on your own. Do your homework, as there are good and bad in the field.

It's fun having your picture taken in the "winners circle" with 5 or 6 partners, I have been in several partnerships and they all have been profitable.

[so.cal.fan]

I agree with SMF.....however.....if you must......listen to Karl...
A partnership is the best way to start........no question about it.

[Show Me the Wire]

So. Cal Fan:

You get my vote if you run for political office:

QUOTE]I agree with SMF..[/QUOTE] So.Cal Fan.

Pleasantly surprised you advocate spending money on hookers, rolling papers, and booze, not necessarily in that order, by Schacopate, instead of on a horse.

I believe we need more forward thinking people like you.

Regards,
Show Me the Wire

Too much color blinds us.

[Derek2U]

Maybe you can call baffert & offer your 5K for Congaree.
You never know it might be your lucky moment.

[so.cal.fan]

SMTW:
I would never run for political office, and I'm sure you wouldn't either.....but if you did I would vote for you too.
SHACOPATE:
I think what SMF meant was that you need to have fun with your money. Buying a horse outright on your own, can be very expensive and NOT FUN at all, if it doesn't pan out, which in 85% of the cases it doesn't......so........if you really have to get involved, do it on a small scale to start. Hey, if you get lucky, you can go from there. Get in a partnership.
But save some time and money for the fun stuff, whatever that may be to you.
Good luck.

[smf]

My take on this was that if someone is looking to claim a horse for 8k (max), then maybe the time isn't right, or perhaps that $$ s/b invested elsewhere. However, I think Karl's idea of getting into a syndication is an excellent idea for someone in that situation.

How many people go in with the intention of claiming ONE horse for 5k on a budget that won't allow for more, stay in the business of ownership? My guess is not many. Unless you get in with a group it might be best to wait till you're better prepared.

Shac,

Go listen to some archived shows of Roger Stein. www.rogerstein.com. He covered your exact scenario late in one of his shows about a month ago. He feels that many come into ownership unprepared....'luck to you.

[smf]

....also, SCF gets my vote, too. She and PurplePower should be co-Czar's of Texas racing. Lots of room for improvement here & y'all know what would need to be done.

[highnote]

Originally posted by Shacopate
Looking to claim a horse for about 5,000
willing to go up to about 8,000.

Shacopate,
I run a small syndicate and we're looking for one or two more members. We race out of Mountaineer Park. Let me know if you're interested and we can talk by phone or email.
Regards,
John Swetye