Blonde on Tap finished a nice 2nd at Keeneland in a 6f, $20,000 maiden claimer. The jockey switch to Mitch Murrill seemed to help relax her a little bit. After two starts where she flew to the lead and faded badly, here she rated and made a reasonable move in the stretch.
The race does show a very important negative to partnership investing. The partners had no say in the drop into a $20,000 claimer. If I had been the sole owner of Blonde on Tap, I would not have dropped her without trying a route race first. She was beaten 27 lengths in her previous start, so she would have tough to claim, but not impossible. Steve Asmussen did claim the horse that finished 3rd. An Oaklawn trainer also claimed a first time starter out of the race. Good horsemen are always watching, even lowly $20,000 maiden claimers.
I would not have been a happy camper if Blonde on Tap would have been claimed. I guess you have to give the Dare to Dream guys credit for being aggressive, or maybe they were just lucky. One of the great negatives to partnerships is the managers cannot really tell the partners what they really think of their horses, because sometimes a claiming race is the best option. You can’t tell a bunch of 2% partners the horse is great, but we going to sneak her into this $20,000 race. I had always wondered how West Point of Eclipse managed the drop into a claimer, and now I realize the most likely communication will be dead silence.
The race does show you that you can find value in $20,000 maiden claimers. There was someone who bid $45,000 for Blonde on Tap at Ocala. Yesterday was a 50% off sale day for them. Maybe the best option is to avoid the sales, and just wait for impatient owners to enter claiming races.
This is a very very tough game. Never underestimate the poker skills needed to successfully mange a group of horses.
Buying A Race Horse 