Starter Allw Races

[Pell Mell]

Back in th fifties NY ran a lot of Starter Allowance races for horses that had started for a specific claiming price within a certain time frame. I know that this type of race is still being run at some tracks.

I learned way back then to bypass these races unless you were looking for 6/5 shots to bet. Most of these races were distance races of 1 1/8 mi. and up to 1 1/2 mi. It seemed that a trick used back then was to take a good horse and have it run a series of bad races and then get it dropped into a cheap claimer somewhere that it wouldn't be claimed. The horse would then be eligible for these Starter races for a year. A lot of times these horses were so much better than the rest that they would run up long winning streaks.

I was wondering if anyone has kept stats on Starter Allw races, such as, % of winning favorites, or average prices, etc.

I remember Taulbot saying many years ago that these races were a different ballgame.

[gillenr]

They also had starter handicap series with increasing distances. You're right about the chalk & the class drop-usually at the end of the season(no winter racing then, so less likely to be claimed).

[Tom]

Used to be you could not claim on opening day of a meet, so horses were entered at a low price in order to become eligible for the series for the next year or two. These races used to really popular at Finger Lakes - we kept increasing distances all the way up to 4 miles and 70 yards!
The str alw series always was a popular race - old Aqueduct used to have them a lot as well.

[Kelso]

Used to be you could not claim on opening day of a meet, so horses were entered at a low price in order to become eligible for the series for the next year or two.


If horses couldn't be claimed, were the races still classified as "Claiming" ... such that they would qualify horses for Starter Allowance races?

[njcurveball]

The condition books I used to read said that you had to start a horse at the meet to be able to claim one. I took that to mean that if you entered a horse in the first race, then you could claim horses the rest of the meet.

I don't know if the horses in the first race could be claimed, since you do not have an official starter until the gate opens.

[samyn on the green]

A 6/5 sure winner in a starter allowance is sure better than a 4/1 loser in a claimer. Class rules in these starter allowances, look for solid form that holds up while focusing on horses with a class edge. Betting these races is like opening up a savings account at your local bank, minus the toaster. These races with there class edged favorites provide the confidence to bet with gusto. Great races to anchor pick 3s/4s with a singles.

[Pell Mell]

How's that for a timely post; BEU has 6 Starter ALW races carded today.:eek:

[JohnGalt1]

Class is the primary factor in starter alw races.

A 10K starter alw race for horses that have raced for 10K since a certain date--say a year ago-- would favor a horse whose most recent races are well above todays condition but who had ar least one 10K claiming race--say 8 months ago--against the fiels if they are 6-10K climers.

Class drops after a win is usually bad, but if a horse just won a 25k claimer and is dropped into a starter alw the horse in in condition and has a definite class advantage.

The Claiming Crown is a day of starter alw's with higher purses.

[Overlay]

I remember that the way Tom Ainslie used to recommend playing starter handicaps was to look for the horse that had won another starter handicap somewhere in its past performances, regardless of how bad its subsequent form in other types of races looked, as long as it had been racing often enough to indicate an appropriate degree of conditioning. (Of course, that was forty years ago, and I don't know if the same angle would still work today, or whether it would apply to starter allowances versus starter handicaps.)

[maxwell]

I think there's some 'capping rule to help get a handle on these races : double the purse = 1/2 clm level.

Alw [S] 40k = 20K clm. I think it might include sliding back one level : 18K clm. Or was it handicap races?

Or was it I stayed too long at last night's party? :D

[Doc]

Philly Park cards starter allowances on a regular basis. The key is to look at the claiming tags the horses have been running for. Sometimes you get old back-class veterans in a field - they are the ones to bet.

Doc

[equicom]

There's one at Turfway on Wednesday (R8)