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I notice that the 2:30 Goodwood is an “Optional Claiming Handicap”.
I have noticed a few races described as this recently but I’m not sure exactly what this means.
This is a class 2 race so it is a bit better than ordinary surely?
Can someone enlighten me please.I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
I've walked and I crawled on six crooked highwayshttps://www.britishhorseracing.com/press_releases/trial-announced-exciting-new-hybrid-race/
Essentially, the races are like conventional handicaps but with an option to race off a lower mark in exchange for allowing the horse to be claimed at a certain price. Jane Chapple-Hyam has been particularly astute in exploiting these races with the likes of Unabated claiming the full 7lbs at Chelmsford back in August (and duly winning).
Most of the horses tend to run off the true mark but you’d usually get at least one horse in to be claimed.
Thank you
I think that I will steer clear of them then.I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
I've walked and I crawled on six crooked highwaysRather than steering clear of them they must surely be of interesting since horses entered with a claiming allowance have an advantage in the handicap. David O’Meara in particular seems to be entering these with the claiming allowances and it looks as if a few more trainers are starting to take advantage.
Harks back to first half of the 20th century when Optional Claiming and Selling Races were programmed on a regular, basis particularly in National Hunt racing. I think Cheltenham Festival had an optional Selling Chase at one time.
There are three more of these races this year – Kempton on 10/10, Newcastle on 22/10, Doncaster on 26/10. The last of those has acquired a sponsor, so doesn’t have ‘Optional Claiming’ in the race title, but the race conditions are still the same.
I made a claim (via my trainer) for the O’Meara runner in the Goodwood race (Tukhoom), as he would be an ideal candidate for the Kempton and Doncaster contests, and how often can you buy a horse for £14k and run it in races worth £30k within a few weeks.
As invariably happens, Mr O’Meara entered a ‘friendly claim’ and duly got his horse back in the ensuing ballot. That’s the third time in a row that he’s won a ballot after claims have been made for Tukhoom.
No question that these are a very attractive type of race for an older horse rated 80 plus, as they can’t get into races worth that much very often. If the program is repeated next year, I’ll certainly be trying to find a suitable horse for them.
Alan
Not sure what you feel about it, but I don’t like the idea of allowing friendly claims. To me it defeats the object of having claiming races. That said I suspect it is used as a way of making the races more attractive to a racing community that doesn’t fully embrace claimers.
Rob
Hi Rob,
Mixed feelings I suppose – I mught be in favour if I ever found myself in the position to make a friendly claim. But in principle, I don’t think it’s good thing. If you enter for a claimer, you know the price and should be prepared for somebody to match that price and buy the horse. It’s not as if running in a claimer is compulsory.
There is a cost, as the current owner is charged a premium (usually 5% of the claiming price) for a friendly claim if there are other claims and a ballot is held. But it’s free if the friendly claim is the only one. In the case of Tukhoom at Goodwood, that would mean a payout of £660 for the existing owners.
Cav,
Who knows? To make a claim, you phone a specific number, not more than 15 minutes after the start of the race, give the details of the horse, your own security number (every trainer has one, an owner can apply for one) and a contact number.
The ‘ballot’ is done in secret by whoever takes the phone calls, and the result is communicated to the clerk of the scales at the course and to the winning claimant. They don’t bother to contact you again if your claim has failed, so you are left in limbo, unless you are at the track and in the weighing room. The clerk of the scales announces the outcome and if the horse is changing hands, the existing trainer has to hand over the passport and medical book to a BHA official.
Twenty years ago, when I claimed a couple of horses, the whole thing was handled by the clerk of the scales and anybody could watch as he put numbered balls into bag and asked someone neutral to draw out the winner.
Here’s a link to the relevant part of the rules of racing:
http://rules.britishhorseracing.com/#!/book/34/chapter/s3016-claiming-and-selling-code
And one that shows the outcome of recent claims:
https://www.britishhorseracing.com/regulation/ownership/claiming-races/
Thanks Alan.
That second link is interesting. I’ve checked the claims submitted for the seven races that have been run in the series since early July.
10/07/2019 No claims
19/7/2019 1st and 2nd (Claimed both friendly)
10/8/2019 1st (Claimed Friendly)
23/8/2019 1st (Claimed Friendly)
6/9/2019 No claims
13/9/2019 1st and 8th (Claimed both friendly)
25/9/2019 1st (Claimed friendly)I’m only assuming a ballot has an element of “chance” to it, which doesn’t seem to be the case here.
In addition to your own experience with the Tukhoom claim, it all seems a bit murky really….
And if the chance of losing your horse is as minimal as it evidently is, very interesting from both an ownership and punting perspective for horses entered up to run light.
Assuming only two claims were made (one friendly one not) I make that a 127/1 accumulator there Cav.
Would be interesting to know how many lbs below its official mark each horse ran at in those races(for those that took the option to claim), and work out the returns. Star Of Southwold looked very well in for both the races he won in the series.
Cav,
I can tell you that in that Pontefract race on July 19th, Star of Southwold ran from 4lbs lower than his then official mark of 92 and the runner-up had used the maximum 7lbs allowance to drop his mark from 79 to 72. All the other runners ran off their official rating.
I’m afraid this info can only be deduced with hindsight by checking the offical result on the restricted access Racing Admin website, which is the only source that shows the official rating of each runner on that day.
As a matter of interest, I’ll try to get the weight allowances claimed for the three remaining races on here after the final decs.
As for the ballot being ‘murky’, I think that’s a very good choice of word – it’s certainly not transparent! Perhaps their theme song is Only Fools Claim Horses.
A field of 14 declared for the Optional Claiming Handicap at Kempton on Thursday evening. Only three have been entered with the option to be claimed – the figure in brackets is their current official rating:
Bacacarat (84) £31,700 No weight allowance claimed
Love Dreams (90) £25,000 7lbs allowance claimed
Florencio (82) £12,000 7lbs allowance claimed
I think it’s safe to say that there will be no rush to buy Bacacarat at that price, but the other two might attract interest.
As a race, it looks high quality, with a top weight running off 104 and ten horses rated 90 or higher.
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