3YO CLAIMING TO 3YO ALLOWANCE

Three-year-olds of winter that have triumphed impressively in high-priced claiming races will be tested under allowance conditions for nonwinners once other than maiden or claiming. Their times will be fast. Their victories will look sharp. The connections will often be leading trainers, leading jockeys. So the crowd will be fooled. The step-up usually results in failure. Excepting in fall, the rise from 3YO claiming to 3YO allowance is among the most difficult in major-league racing. In winter, four-year-olds and older that have won impressively in high-priced claiming races can step into the nonwinners allowance division and score. But older (4up) nonwinners of allowance races represent either chronic losers or poor prospects. Impressive high-priced older claiming horses can trounce them, and do.

Three-year-olds entered in nonwinners allowance races of winter represent the fanciest prospects on the grounds. Their claiming-race counterparts have already been branded as relatively cheap. They have been for sale as young racehorses. No one should confuse the $40,000 claiming race for 4up (or 3up) with the $40,000 claiming race limited to 3YOs.

The pair resemble one another not a bit.

When 3YOs that have won with claiming tags try allowance runners, they normally confront horses that run a faster pace while expending less energy. Pressed to keep abreast early, the claiming graduates regularly fall apart when the late running begins. This is particularly true if the race is a route.