Hey, Can I claim a horse at Mountaineer Race Track if I am not a registered owner or trainer? It is a horse that I have been following for years and she has ended up there. I tried to buy her last fall when she was at Thistledown but it didn’t work out.
She is 9. She doesn’t need to race any more. I don’t need her to do anything special for me. I just told myself 5 years ago that I would give her a soft landing and I am worried that I waited too long.
You must be a licensed owner in order to claim.
Why not just contact trainer and make an offer again?
I don’t know the rules and regs for claiming at that racetrack. Just about every track can be different. On face value it may seem ridiculous and IMO and experience it is at times. But there are certain “business” reasons for the rules and a certain amount of “politics” come into play.
Some tracks the licensed owner has to have been running horses at the track and or stabled there. Especially at tracks where the horse population is tight. The track doesn’t want them going somewhere else.
If nobody chimes in knowing what the procedure is you could call the racing office and ask. Pretty much absolutely you will need to involve a trainer. Don’t go into detail just say you are thinking about getting into racing and would like to know what the procedure is.
When I want to claim a broodmare prospect and or steeplechase prospect I call a trainer I know and they can claim for their own account a lot of the times. We don’t race horses at Mountaineer or CT so I don’t have a WV owner’s license.
There are “unwritten rules” with a lot of trainers about claiming horses off of other trainers. So that comes into play at times. It all depends on the horse and the trainers involved. Some trainers I will throw a few hundred in the pot to pay for their time and hassle. Depends on my relationship with the person “dropping the slip”.
You will have to pick up the horse ASAP. Not necessarily the day it is claimed but the next day. Maybe the same day if the trainer doesn’t have any extra stalls.
Feel free to get on to me if you can’t find anybody. I might be able to help out.
I agree with Melissa–just call the trainer (or leave a message at the track office) making an offer on the horse. You might get it for less than the minimum claim price (I think it’s $5000 there, not sure.)
Also suggest contacting trainer directly. Who is it? I have some contacts there…
I am not sure how much experience the people that say “just call the trainer” have. Seems reasonable enough on face value. IME depends on the track, track, trainer and horse. I have not found offering less than claiming price gets the job done in most cases. Depends on the horse’s form. Even a 9 year old can pick up a lot “place” money without being claimed. Running 4th in $5,000 claiming at Mountaineer pays over $300. If the horse had “decent” form and has a shot at winning from time to time the ideal “scenario” for an owner if it does get claimed it is off a win. Claiming price and the pot.
A lot of horses at Mountaineer are “owner trainer” so unless it has “hopeless form” after it was claimed they are not that interested in “losing it” for just the claiming price.
No disrespect to the fine horsemen at Mountaineer but this is a bottom level track. Most are scraping by. “Day money”, horse is a stall owned by someone who pays their bills means a lot.
It sound like the OP has gone the “route” of calling the connections.
Send a PM to Manahmanah if you don’t want to post the horse’s name. “On track” connections are key. Especially at track like Mountaineer.
The trainer literally just got the horse in the past week or so. Its first race is this week. I don’t see what his motivation would be at the moment to sell for the claiming price or even less. And I do understand that Mountaineer has a horse shortage.
I will PM Manahamanah.
The licensed trainer fills out the claim slip and the owner must be already licensed. Neither the owner nor trainer needs have to have stalls at the track. Most tracks have a “jail” rule - if a horse gets claimed, it has to run at that track (or in that state, depending) for a specified amount of time, and often at 25% higher tag for a specified amount of time. Most states honor other states’ jail rules.
Here is an article about the jail rule
http://www.courier-journal.com/story/money/2015/06/04/horse-claiming-rule-ky-supreme-court/28473635/
That article says she can move the horse, just can’t run it anywhere else.
“I just told myself 5 years ago that I would give her a soft landing”
Good karma back to you, Vixen. 
I know at least one person who cold-called a trainer half the country away not even to make an immediate offer but to find out if they had plans for the horse when he was done and were met with “Want him?” I’d start by contacting the trainer and seeing what they’d take for her and if he/she is interested in selling, and if so NOT fart around with PPEs and other time-wasters, just have a hauler ready and get the horse off their feed bill (or pay day rate until the trailer gets there.) If the horse is winning or likely to get claimed for more they’d probably say no, but $4500-5000 in hand is more than maybe $300 if she hits the board.
Success! Don’t want to jinx it though. Will tell all next week.
Well, I can announce that I am the proud new owner of Special Jak, a mare I have been following since I first saw her run in 2010 at Suffolk Downs. I tracked down the trainer in July with the help of Mountaineer’s HBPA. They forwarded my email to him and he called me to let me know that he wasn’t quite sure what he was planning to do with her. But the longer we talked, it appeared he got comfortable with me. He said he was going to keep her until the end of the meet and then I could have her.
In the meantime though her ownership info changed on equibase and I was convinced that I was once again stymied. But the trainer I spoke to called me last Monday and told me that she was available to be picked up today. So, I hustled and found a hauler. She is now on her way to Full Gallop Farm in Aiken, SC, to spend a few months with Lara Anderson who does a great job with OTTBs and then in the spring back to Beantown.
Congrats! Hope she is everything you hope she will be.
[QUOTE=imissvixen;8324980]
Well, I can announce that I am the proud new owner of Special Jak, a mare I have been following since I first saw her run in 2010 at Suffolk Downs. I tracked down the trainer in July with the help of Mountaineer’s HBPA. They forwarded my email to him and he called me to let me know that he wasn’t quite sure what he was planning to do with her. But the longer we talked, it appeared he got comfortable with me. He said he was going to keep her until the end of the meet and then I could have her.
In the meantime though her ownership info changed on equibase and I was convinced that I was once again stymied. But the trainer I spoke to called me last Monday and told me that she was available to be picked up today. So, I hustled and found a hauler. She is now on her way to Full Gallop Farm in Aiken, SC, to spend a few months with Lara Anderson who does a great job with OTTBs and then in the spring back to Beantown.[/QUOTE]
Congrats to you on the wonderful outcome!
love this! I was given a very nice ottb a few years ago by simply emailing the trainer and owner that I would give her a soft place to land. She a her own person and a great life now!
Congratulations! I hope her move goes well! Best of luck as she transitions to a new career.
Congratulations to you and your mare! I did the same thing a few years ago. I watched Buddha Power and he touched me. I called the trainer and he said that if he doesn’t do anything in his next race, he’s mine. The day after the race I met “Buddha” on the backstretch and brought him to my friends farm. He’s a very happy retiree.
Many trainers find genuine calls like this a blessing.
Wonderful! Great to have follow up! She’s lovely.
Thanks for updating! Such a heartwarming story!
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