race horse numbers; assiment of

Question
How are the numbers selected for horses in races? Not the post positions, but the numbers the horse/jockey wears.
Thank you.
Ben

Answer
Except for certain special races, when entries are drawn for the race, each horse is written up on a separate sheet of paper, called an entry slip.  Then an equal number of numbered "pills" are put into a shaker.  This shaker is then given to anyone who happens to be in the entry office at the time for drawing. The entry clerk pulls an entry slip out of the stack, while the person with the shaker pulls out a "pill" to represent that horse's post position.
This is the number of the post position that he will break out of in the gate.  Usually it is also the number that the horse will wear on his saddle towel.  The exception is when there is a coupled entry.  In this case, then the coupled entry will automatically be numbered 1 and 1A for a single entry, 2 and 2A for a second entry, etc., but they will still break out of the gate position that was pulled at entry time, regardless of what number is on their saddle towel.  

Stephanie Frost
www.alchemybloodstock.com