Louisiana changes claiming rules
 

Looks like the claiming rules in La will change this year.

The new rule allows a claimed horse to run back for the price he was claimed for, or higher, and eliminates the 30-day jail which required a horse be raised at least 25 percent in claiming price.

They've also stopped charging sales tax on claims.

Welcome to FairGrounds - the new place to claim a horse !!!!!!

LA has a lot of positive things going for it. The statebred program is strong, the claiming rules are fair as are the medication rules.

I can see good and bad in stopping the jail rule, but now that Gill is mostly out of the business......

I love the idea of no sales tax. It saves the buyer money, especially if you turn over horses at a fair pace. It's pretty easy to go through a couple grand claiming mid-level horses in the course of a year - and for small owners, that's a lot of $$'s taken out of their business.

I think LA is doing some good things and this is probably the smartest thing one can do for the claiming game.

Louisiana is a better place to go than Gulfstream for the winter in that the money is better and the races easier. However it is not a great place right now to live for 3-4 months. Still not safe since Katrina.

Oaklawn seems to be the best place to go if you factor in money and difficulty of races. Gulfstream has the weather though and the NY guys love it. The problem there is the racing is so tough for so little money.

it was the place last year and the amount of claims especially towards the latter part of the meet were sick. even owning a bottom claimer there you gotta chance to make a profit when youre running for a 16-20k pot

it was not all that safe before katrina.

LA is moving very much in the right direction -- and LA will take horsemen and horses away from FL this winter. All of the things they are doing are positive measures.

The no sales tax speaks for itself, however the jail rules can be very positive. Sure, there's always exceptions and I am sure the critics will find plenty to knock. However, for the bread-n-butter owners, those are are the back-bone of horse ownership -- this can be a very good thing. These are the kind of things -- flexibility, more opportunity to race in a competitive spot, etc. -- that can not only get owners but also can keep owners in this game.

I'll look long and hard, as I always do, but I like what I see.

Eric