Lucy Vaillancourt | Horse Racing Free Tips

Through Saturday's Day 25 card of Del Mar's 31-day season, horse claims have not slowed down, notes the lady who takes care of these things, stewards' aide Lucy Vaillancourt.

She reports that there have been 193 total claims realized so far at the session and that's not counting the 31 voided claims that were turned back. All told, those actual claims cost $5,524,000, which means that “the Governor” (aka, the state of California) has realized $483,349 from its 8.75% sales tax.

“And what you've got to realize,” Vaillancourt said, “is that we've had 888 cards 'dropped' (a claim request) so far. There are a lot of folks looking to buy horses this way.”

One of the yardsticks for measuring the claiming activity is the number of “shakes” that are held post-race. That's a situation where more than one horseperson has dropped a request to claim a particular horse, forcing there to be a “shake” (or blind pill pull) to determine the one who becomes the new owner of the horse.

Yesterday, Vaillancourt conducted a 17-way “shake” for the 3-year-old gelding Magic Tiger, who trainer Mike Maker had put in for a $16,000 tag in Race 2. The winner of that pill pull was trainer Jamey Thomas, which is an interesting story all in itself.

Thomas had run Magic Tiger for the same $16,000 tag at Del Mar three weeks earlier on August 7, watched him run third and then go to Maker's barn. Yesterday Thomas took Magic Tiger – who again ran third – back for the same price, after, of course, he had come out on top in that 17-way “shake.”

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Claiming races make up the majority of events run at most any race meet. Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif., is no exception.

This year through the first 13 days of Del Mar's 31-day session there have been 106 claims registered where horses change hands and barns. Additionally, there were 14 others, but they were voided for one reason or another, usually for soundness issues.

The total spent so far on claims is $2,803,500.

Lucy Vaillancourt, Del Mar's stewards' aide, keeps track of the claims and she's been surprised by the “hot and heavy” nature in the claiming ranks so far.

“I think there's a chance we might beat the record of 348 claims in one season,” she says. “It (claiming) usually picks up as the meet goes along and this meet has a feel of only going stronger, not slowing down.”

The meet record of 348 was set in 2005. The total spent that year was $10,383,000.

Del Mar offers claiming races from a low of $8,000 to a high of $150,000, though there aren't many of the latter.

In the case of a situation where more than one claim is put in for a horse in a race, there is a “shake” to see who gets to take him or her home. Vaillancourt is the one who conducts 'shakes' immediately after a race just outside the winner's circle by first assigning a number to each trainer putting in a claim, then placing numbered “pills” into a container and giving them a shake before pulling one out.

“I had a 24-way 'shake' earlier in the meet,” she noted. “And it's interesting to realize that we've had 418 (claiming) cards put in for those 106 claims.”

The biggest 'shake' ever?

“We had one here that went 32 ways,” she remembers. “It was in 2014 and (the late trainer) Mike Mitchell was the winner.”

Vaillancourt stated a fact that not many folks realize concerning the claiming game. The “governor” (aka, the state of California) collects 8.75% sales tax on each and every claim. That translates so far to Sacramento taking in $245,306.

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