Claim Racing

Question
I know nothing about horse racing.  Could you please tell me exactly what A "Claim Race" is?  And how does it work?

Thank You!

Answer
Valerie,
  
I just answered this question for someone else, so I hope that you don't mind if I just copy my answer for you.  Saves me a ton of trouble.

There are several different types of races, but most of the races run today are claiming races.  A claiming race is a race where you enter your horse for a specific dollar amount, and anyone who meets certain criteria (different tracks have different rules about who is eligible to claim) can put the amount of the claim into an account with the horsemans's bookkeeper and claim (buy) your horse.  
For example:  If you put your horse into a $10,000 claiming race, a qualified person can put $10,000 into their account with the bookkeeper, and then on race day they fill out a claim slip, which has their name, the horse's name and sex, and the race info on it, then they put it into a locked box in the Racing Secretary's office.  After the race, the box is opened, and any claim slips inside are read.  If your horse has a claim slip filed, then you get the $10,000, but the claimant gets the horse.  If there is more than one claim in on a horse, numbered pills corresponding to the number of claim slips are put into a bottle, which is then shaken, and a single number rolled out.  The claim slip that matches that number gets the horse.  Everybody else gets their money back.  You don't know prior to the box being opened if there is a claim on your horse. Any purse money earned in the race belongs to the original owner, regardless of whether or not the horse is claimed.

The idea is that claiming keeps people honest, and allows lesser quality horses to compete equally.  If all races were just open to everyone, then the same horses would win every time, since people with stakes horses would use cheaper races for workouts, just to earn easy money.  But with claiming, you only enter your horse for a price that you feel is reasonable to lose him.  So stakes horses aren't going to run against $15,000 claimers, since someone would claim the stake horse for a mere $15,000 if he were entered.  The idea is to run your horse for the highest claiming amount that he can compete well at.  That way you make the most money, but nobody else is likely to claim him, because he is already competing at his highest level.  Most people claim because they feel that the horse can compete at higher levels than the current owner is running him at, so they feel they are getting a higher quality horse for a bargain price.

Claiming is a little risky, though, since you don't get to vet the horse prior to putting in a claim, and the horse actually belongs to you the minute the gates open, so if anything happens to the horse, you still lose the money. Also, many times the previous trainer knows any quirks that the horse has, and it can takes a new trainer quite some time to figure out a new horse.

Claiming can be a little confusing.  If I haven't explained it well enough, let me know, and I'll take another stab at it.  You can also visit most racetrack websites, and click on the horseman's tab, then click on condition book to see an actual book with all of the racing conditions for a given period.  That might help clear things up, too.
Thanks,
Stephanie Frost
www.alchemybloodstock.com