Author: Tom Ainslie

Cited by

• Jaimy Gordon (1)
  • IN: Lord of Misrule (2010) Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: Without claiming races there would be no racing at all. Owners would avoid the hazards of fair competition. Instead, they would enter their better animals in races against the sixth-and twelfth- raters that occupy most stalls at most tracks...This would leave little or no purse money for the owners of cheap horses. The game would perish. The claiming race changes all that. When he enters his animal in a race for $5,000 claiming horses, the owner literally puts it up for sale at that price. Any other owner can file a claim before the race and lead the beast away after the running. The original owner collects the horse's share of the purse, if it earned any, but he loses the horse at a fair price. That is, he loses the horse at a fair price if it is a $5,000 horse. If it were a $10,000 horse, in a race for cheaper ones, the owner would get the purse and collect a large bet at oods of perhaps 1 to 10, but the horse would be bought by another barn at less than its true value.
    FROM: Ainslie's Complete Guide to Thoroughbred Racing, (1968), Book, NULL