Gigi is Better at Claiming than You

[Cleo Patra]

So I tried to sneaky sneaky put a stakes colt in a 100k claimer for an easy kill because he’s going to want more distance and he wasn’t at peak yet.

But Gigi is watching. She’s watching me, she’s watching you and she will outclaim you all.

Growler is now in his new stable and I kind of hope he jumps to freak and turns into something crazy good because Nighteyes apparently likes to sire good stories like that!

Nice work, Gigi. Proof that you’ve never been a player too long that you can’t take advantage of claimers (especially week 10 router debuts). But please excuse me while I turn off claiming for all my stakes horses

[Carole Hanson]

I put in Brilliant Symphony (https://www.simhorseracing.com//horse.p ... ID=1236446 ) into a $100k claimer because I didn’t notice his pedigree and just went off of his works. He won with an 87 and looks like he could jump up in gallop, claimed by Laura Ferguson. Admittedly, he is an allowance but I’m fairly sure he was progressive? Laura can confirm. Either way, with that pedigree it looks like Laura might have gotten a bargain!

Week 10 is prime pickings for possible first time improvers so it’s definitely worth having a look, even in the low claimers (for example, Grade 1 winner Faded Memory could have been yours for just $15k when he first hit the track!).

[Louise Bayou]

I picked up This guy. Liked his breeding and he was a flat A hypo. He is only allowance right now but I think he will be fun to play with!

[Laura Ferguson]

Congrats, Gigi! I came thisclose to putting in a claim for Growler, but since I'm trying to downsize, I ended up erring on the side of passing. Brilliant Symphony's pedigree pushed him over the edge into claim. He's peak, but I've had peak horses improve before.

[Eric Gray]

What Laura said. I almost put a claim in for him as well. I couldn’t make myself pull the trigger for 100K. I guess that’s the newbie still in me. I’m always going to be what iffing for the rest of Growlers career now.

[Nick Gilmore]

What Laura said. I almost put a claim in for him as well. I couldn’t make myself pull the trigger for 100K. I guess that’s the newbie still in me. I’m always going to be what iffing for the rest of Growlers career now.

Don’t beat yourself up Eric. Even if you did put in the claim, you could have lost the draw on him.

[Gigi Gofaster]

Well I am feeling pretty lucky to have got him for sure - rest assured Cleo if he is a world beater on the track or in the shed I will see you right!

I don't always have the time to scour the claiming races, but I really enjoy it and have picked up some doozies along the way. It's one of my favorite parts of the game - and having entrants in the claiming cup races isn't bad either. The 'debut' weeks for each division's 2 year olds get a lot of my attention, although I think I made a few enemies ages ago when I did the trotter newsletter and posted what I thought were super claimers each week!

Last night was good to me - I also picked up 2 allowance late bloomers, including one of the Follow Your Fate winners in with Lou's pickup, and the runner up to Brilliant
Symphony. Missed out on one nice filly to Laura, but got a few other fun ones including a progressive LB colt that has a stunning pedigree. He may never come good but is pedigree chart is pretty to look at, and that's enough for me.

[Kenneth Prater]

I bet a lot of people will scratching runners now.

[Stormy Peak]

I don't even put my different careers into claimers...being the Sim horse hoarder that I am. I have heard of people putting stake horses into claimers at a very young age, but never understood why risk it....and especially now that there are barrier trials for a horse to gain confidence in.

Congrats on the claim, Gigi, and also in offering Cleo back a little bit on the deal if the horse turns out great, both of you show good sportsmanship. I can recall over the years a couple of players who really were upset when their nice horse was claimed, thinking 'no one was paying attention and that the claim price was so high that no one would pay that much'.

Stormy

[Jennifer Blake]

I picked up This guy. Liked his breeding and he was a flat A hypo. He is only allowance right now but I think he will be fun to play with!

I hope he improves and does well for you. I’m not big in Tb’s anymore so I couldn’t even be disappointed in getting 100k for a horse that I would end up gelding and retiring too soon. I’m happy you ended up with him!!!! His dam is a blue hen it I hadn’t put it in his notes.

[Cleo Patra]

What Laura said. I almost put a claim in for him as well. I couldn’t make myself pull the trigger for 100K. I guess that’s the newbie still in me. I’m always going to be what iffing for the rest of Growlers career now.

That’s what I expected most people to think. 100k is a lot for an unknown entity. If he was a filly though I reckon there would have been 30-40 claims.

[Eric Gray]

I actually DID put a claim in, but then retracted it before the race.

[Lily Wilkins]

Gigi is the real MVP when it comes to claiming, and she's going to be whooping everyone's butts at Dirt Routing in a few seasons because she is accumulating some lovely stock! Congrats on that epic claim, Gigi! I'm kicking myself for not looking at the colts!

I love week 10 claiming.. Today I picked up This filly (on a 4-way shake!) and I am super excited about her. She is Allowance Progressive, but hasn't been galloped since Year 56 Preseason. She kinda stunk in her race today, but I suspect with some fitness and the experience from today's run, she will improve.
Ultimately, I bought her for her breeding though!

[Xander Zone]

I run stake horses a lot for claiming lol

[Andrew Chillin]

I run stake horses a lot for claiming lol

I’m not falling for it