Monday night, May 15th, 11 favorites won at Northfield. This cannot possibly be good for the industry. ONE answer to the situation lies in writing better conditions for races.
Adding a claiming tag is not the answer. That only cheapens legitimate horses in said races with a claiming tag. For example, if I have a nw/3 pari-mutuel races colt, why add a claiming tag to the condition to fill the race? I understand if the race is a true conditioned claimer, but throwing an aged $10,000 claiming pacer does the young horses in the race absolutely no good.
Generally the old war horse will easily dispatch of the competition. Then when the owner of the legit nw/3 pm horse puts a price tag of $20,000 on his horse, the buyers say, "$20,000? He just got beat 5 lengths by a $10,000 claimer."
This is pure b.s. I would write a lot more straight claimers. If someone does not want their horse in a straight claimer, they will not make much money with the horse. That is always their option. The better trainers will get their owners to properly classify their horses and the racing will suddenly become competitive again.
Anyone else have a better idea?
