Question for trainers

[The Bid]

Generally an AOC is written to fill allowance races that wouldnt fill otherwise. You get some horses who have went through conditions that can enter if they are tagged, you get up and comers who are entered in the condition that dont have to be tagged because the are eligible for the allowanace part of the condtion.

If you are talking a NW1xaoc where a horse can be tagged, they are probably cheap and worth the most at that point. In that case you are hoping to get it claimed, or they are crippled, in which case you are hoping to get claimed )

[Cannon Shell]

Sometimes you can win the race with the tag without getting claimed and without losing the condition. The when the race comes back again you can run for the condition and hopefully win the same condition twice.

It can get complicated but it truly is a horse-by-horse case of which end you want to go in and what you want accomplished.

Once scenario is that you might not want to "blow" the non-winner of one allowance condition for the horse. For example if you were running at Turfway Park where the purses are small you might want to try to save the allowance condition for the horse when you run it at a track where the purses are good. The only problem there is that the competition is usually better.

Secondly your horse may have "run out" their allowance condition and in order to get in the race you have to go the optional-claim route and hope your horse is not claimed (if that is the case or vice-versa)

The best advice I ever got though was a few years back when I had the pleasure of having dinner with Ms Cherny and she told me "son, good luck in the business and remember that conditions win races".

Good Luck to you.

[Linny]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

Sometimes you can win the race with the tag without getting claimed and without losing the condition. The when the race comes back again you can run for the condition and hopefully win the same condition twice.

This may be the answer I was looking for. I hadn't thought of it that way. In races for older horses I often like a horse in for the tag as he's won far more than the alc horses but with the 3yo's it's a bit trickier. I had forgotten that if you win with the tag you keep the condition.

I understand the Opt/Cl idea. It was a but odd though to see horses eligible for the condition running for the tag. After all they are facing the same rivals, tag or not. It makes sense though now, looking at it in terms of future races.

Thank you all!