in Triple Crown Free Picks

Everybody gets pumped up during the Kentucky Derby but if you want to make winning bets and get ahead in this sport, you have to have a good gauge of how to handle claimers.

Face it, champions are few and far between and to win money at the track, a player must understand the lower echelon horses.

When I first started handicapping horses, I would practice by making my selections on paper for tracks like Charles Town, Liberty Bell, and Penn National and then monitor the results. Claimers dominated the programs there then and still do.

Claimers account for about 75% of the racing cards throughout the country. Since they are not as sound as the better horses, they hold their form for a shorter period of time and are less formful as a whole.

Early speed, as with top-notch horses, is tantamount to being successful. In the olden days, handicapping books would advise to bet only claimers with recent activity, say horses that have run within a couple of weeks or so. But in this day and age, things have changes.

Horses, cheap ones at that, can win off the layoff and they do it all the time. In fact, cheap horses often fire their best shot the first time out after a layoff. They are not tired from the racing grind, they are mentally sharp and whatever was ailing them and forced them to the sidelines may have abated - they are generally in better physical condition when they return.

Bettors love horses that drop. It makes all the sense in the world but horses that drop seldom offer good value at the windows. Players assume since they were once capable of performing at a certain level, that when taking a big drop down the claiming ladder they will even be more effective. It works sometimes, but not always and the payoffs are usually on the small side.

I have found that one of the best and most lucrative situations occurs when a sharp trainer jumps his claimer up the ladder. It tells the bettor that the trainer thinks the horses is doing so well that he can stand the raise.

In Southern California these days, there are the conditioners that deal with blue bloods and there are the guys that keep it together by playing equine poker at the claim box.

Just take a look at the current Del Mar standings. Jeff Mullins was leading the league through last Thursday and since he cut his teeth at outposts like Boise and Phoenix, he knows the claiming game in and out and is super dangerous with everything he sends out.

Art Sherman and Bill Spawr are also masters with cheaper stock but a guy to watch for the rest of the meeting at the beach is Frank Monteleone. He’s been high percentage for years and spots his claimers superbly and he’s due to get rolling. Of the 8 he first saddled this meet, 5 ran second.

There are many ways to approach claimers and the game as a whole but if you know the players who pull the strings, you have a head start on the field.

Horse racing with BetUS RacebookJoin BetUS today to get in on the action.