Is The Trainer Trying For A Price?

By: Ray Taulbot

The basis of this month’s angle is a step up in entered claiming price following

 a good race last start. Most racing fans believe that when a trainer raises his horse

 in claiming price it means that he is not sending the horse out to win, much less

 planning to back its chances with his own money. But many trainers supplement

their incomes by backing their horses under certain conditions, and these conditions

should be a signal to the player also.

Few trainers will lay their own money on the line at odds of less than 4–1, and to

 increase their charges’ odds a trainer will often step up a clearly sharp horse in

claiming price. As a general rule, the factor that permits one to distinguish between

a sharp horse which has been stepped up for further conditioning and one that is

 well-meant and is being stepped up to increase its odds is the date of its last race.

If a horse is stepped up in claiming price after turning in a good race 20 days

ago, it frequently means the trainer is giving the horse a conditioning race. But if a

 horse is stepped up no more than 20 percent higher than its entered price last start

and turned in a good race within the past 12 days, the move generally means the

 sharp horse is well meant and the trainer is after a price. In almost all instances, the

 horse that has raced most recently is the correct choice.

The following rules will guide you when making use of this trainer betting angle:

1) Consider only those horses that are moving up in claiming price today.

2) Eliminate any horse that qualifies on Rule 1 if it was claimed last start.

3) Eliminate any horse that has not started within 12 days; that race having taken

place at the same track as today’s race.

4) Eliminate any remaining horse that has won both of its last two starts.

5) Finally, eliminate any contender that is entered to go more than one furlong

farther, or one furlong less, than the distance it ran last start.

6) After making the above eliminations, any remaining contender that finished in

the money last start is a final contender, provided it is not moving up more than

 20 percent in entered claiming price today.

7) Where two or more qualify, choose the horse that has started most recently. If

two horses have raced on the same date, choose the one going off at the highest

odds today.