Claiming ranks are 'hot and heavy' at Del Mar meet

Claiming races make up the majority of events run at most any race meet, and Del Mar 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 of 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 percent sales tax on each and every claim. That translates so far to Sacramento taking in $245,306.